An Unheard of Love
by Jazza-44
Summary: Mariah Cheasley always knew she was different, always knew she was not normal. When an old friend comes back into her life a series of events begin to unfold which will change her life forever. Pieces of her life's puzzle begin to fall into place.
1. A New Start Or So I'd Hoped

**An Unheard of Love**

_{Chapter __**1}**_

Mariah Cheasley was a different girl. Oh, she may well look like you or I but in fact she was more different than you could ever imagine. Orphaned at the age of five by a horrific fire that killed her entire family, save her.

She could remember plain as day the night of the fire. It had been an arson attack on the family mansion. She had come down stairs to get a glass of water when she saw him, dousing the carpet with kerosene. He had dropped a match and, within seconds the entire house was alight. She had run upstairs to her parent's room. Her father's side of the bed had already caught alight so she dragged her unconscious mother's body out of the bed, out of the room and to the staircase. She had then run to her sibling's room. Her older sister and baby brother were unconscious in their beds.

Dragging their limp bodies from the room and dragged her mother and sibling's bodies down the stairs and out the front door. There were police, ambulance and firefighter officers outside the blazing inferno behind her. Medical officers rushed over and took her mother and sister back to the ambulance. A doctor she knew came over to her and held his arms out for the baby she carried. Unwillingly, she gave him the baby. He handed it to the nurse beside him and watched it being carried away. Suddenly, a flaming beam collapsed on top of Mariah.

She remembers the pain as it burnt and crushed her small form, she remembers cool hands lifting her gently, and she remembers the darkness that threatened to keep her from waking up. When she woke, she had been in a hospital bed, but she had not been alone. The doctor was there with her. He smiled as she looked first at him and then around the room, looking for her mother only to find that she was not there.

"Mariah, I'm doctor Cullen, how do you feel?" he asked, still smiling gently at her, his eyes showed only regret as if the news he was about to tell her was about to break her in two.

"My head's buzzin' and I'll be scarred for life but otherwise I'm fine." Mariah's voice trembled.

"You're sure?" he looked concerned.

Still a bit groggy and still being only a child, she said the next thing that popped into her head. "I like the colour of your eyes, they're golden brown, or liquid topaz…" she yawned. "I can never make up my mind."

He chuckled. "I have something I need to tell you Mariah…"

"Is mother alright? Where is she? Is my sist-"

"Steady Riah," he affectionately used the pet name he had made up for he the first time they'd met. "Your mother is still unconscious… but your siblings… they didn't make it through the first hour… you've been unconscious for the past few days, you are lucky to be alive."

Mariah had heard him, and understood, but she didn't want to. His beeper went off and he looked at it, panic flashed across his face. He darted out of the room and down the corridor. Mariah pulled the things connecting her to the beeping and whirring machines off her small body. She jumped out of bed and ran down the corridor after him.

She'd burst into the ER and watched through the glass windows over looking the scene as Dr. Cullen tried desperately to save her mother's life. Mariah had watched the pulse monitor go flatline, had watched her mother die. Dr. Cullen was the only doctor in the room. She watched as he leant over her mother's body lean in towards her neck and bite down. Horrified, Mariah had screamed and Dr. Cullen had looked up at her. She had run away from him and he had followed. Twisting and ducking out of the way of other people, Mariah had torn open the stitches on her shoulder. Dr. Cullen had curled his hand into a fist and had sliced open his own hand. As he grabbed Mariah's shoulder a clear liquid from his hand seeped into her open wound and filtered into her bloodstream. Mariah didn't think about the pain at first, only that she had to get away. Only when her shoulder felt as if it was on fire did she fall to the floor, screaming in agony. Carlisle knew immediately what had happened and quickly got her to a safe location. He was unsure of what changes would occur; only that she would not be a 'normal' child anymore.

It didn't last long, only a few minutes but it seemed like an eternity to Mariah. But the pain finally ebbed away to reveal the effects of it. Her shoulder had healed and things were floating around the room. It took a moment for her to realise that she had been doing this and also that she could hear voices, she wanted them to go away and they did. _'What happened?' _she thought to herself.

"You were changed…" she had recognised Carlisle Cullen's voice and had spun to look at him. To fast to be completely human. "You are still human, but with some differences. Someone I know came and looked at you, he could tell me instantly what new changes you had gone through. You will now be able to read minds whenever you see fit, you'll be able to move things with your mind, heal incredibly quickly and you will have your own personal shield you can turn on and off at your leisure. You may even be able to turn invisible."

"Like super powers?" Mariah had asked, more than a little confused.

"Something like that, yes. But you need to understand… you can't tell or show any of these, er, talents you now have to anyone, besides me. I can teach you to control your powers and take care of you as long as you need." He had seemed ill at ease, but still enthusiastic about the idea.

She had agreed, and for years she'd let him train her to control her abilities with guarded care. However, at the age of twelve, he had left her on the steps of an orphanage in Chicago. She had forgiven him, but didn't know why. After two years she had run away and made a life for herself along with a few other run-a ways.

Now, five years later, she and those run-a ways were best friends and were in a band together. They had ironically called themselves 'The Run a Ways' and had travelled all over America. But now, Mariah really wanted to finish up school and then attend collage. That was why they had all come to the decision to go to Forks. There was a high school where Mariah could go and they could get gigs for the band in and around the Olympic Peninsular, so they wouldn't be short of cash.

As they moved into their new home, Mariah reminisced over her times with Carlisle. He had been like a father to her; he had always been there for her. As a little girl Mariah had called him Carlie, but had dropped the affectionate nickname when she had hit double digits.

"Mariah!" Troy called out to her, bringing her back to the present.

"Yeah?" Mariah called back.

"That's everything! We're all moved in, what do you think?" Troy smiled brightly at her.

"Its home." Mariah smiled back.

"School tomorrow. How do you think you'll go?" Troy watched her as she crossed her arms over her chest and rolled her eyes at him. He laughed at her. "You'll be fine."

"You're right. I should just leap without looking, like I always do." She grinned mischievously at him before upending the bucket of water in her hand all over him, laughing. He laughed too and grabbed the hose, soaking her from head to toe. Troy was right; she thought to herself, everything was going to be fine. Or was it?


	2. Fear, Terror & Gunshot Wounds

Mariah parked her sleek, blue Porsche in the school parking lot and got out. She headed over to the school office and filled out the necessary paperwork. The lady behind the counter was short and stout with large spectacles. She handed Mariah her timetable and a map of the school. Mariah strode out into the quad and looked around. She attracted several stares and many sly glances as she strode out into the sun towards building four. She had biology first and it was by far the closest building to the office, so she headed in that direction. She was resolved to wait inside until class began. When she entered the classroom her teacher, Mr. Banner, was already there and he looked up at the sound of her entrance.

"Good morning. May I help you?" he said, making her jump slightly. She had not been expecting him to be in here.

"Morning sir. I'm Mariah Cheasley, I'm your new biology student." She replied after a moment.

"Oh yes, of course. I have your things right here." He said enthusiastically, getting her book from under a pile of sheets. "Here we are."

"Thank you." Mariah smiled at him. "Do you mind me waiting in here until class begins?"

"Not at all. Being new here in the middle if the semester is tough." He looked back at what he was setting up.

"Do you need a hand sir?" Mariah asked, watching him fuss over the data projector.

"Do you know what's wrong with it?" he looked doubtful.

"I can take a look." Mariah said, inspecting the machine fully. "Um, sir, it might help to turn the power on."

"Was that it?" he asked as Mariah turned the projector on.

"Yep." She replied, adjusting the resolution slightly.

The bell rang. "Oh and I have a seat for you right here." Mr. Banner motioned to a far seat. The students started filing in and sitting down. Mariah went to the empty bench, sat in the isle seat, opened her book to the instructed page and turned her attention to what Mr. Banner was saying.

Mariah looked around. The other students all looked normal, happy, friendly. She wished she were like that. Keeping the secret was one of the hardest things she had faced during her life. Not only hers but that of the vampire world as well. Knowing as much as she did was extremely dangerous, especially for others who became involved. So she kept quiet, only occasionally using her knowledge to save innocent people from nomadic vampires.

Mariah didn't really want to sit here and have Mr. Banner explain everything over and over again using different words each time. So, Mariah simply opened her mind and downloaded all his knowledge on the subject into her own brain. This was cheating, but it was easier.

Class ended and Mariah went to go, but was ambushed by several of her classmates.

"Hi, I'm Jessica. What's your name?" one of them inquired.

"Hi." Mariah replied. "I'm Mariah."

"I'm Mike." Another of them stated, taking her hand and shaking it.

"Nice to meet you." Mariah smiled and inclined her head slightly. "We should get to class."

"Um… yeah." Mike said. "This way."

Mike led the way out the door and started down the corridor. Mariah and Jessica followed close behind, Jessica asking many intensely personal questions, Mariah answering as honestly as she could without revealing too much about herself.

Mariah was concentrating on Jessica's intense questioning, and as such, was not expecting it when she walked into what felt like a brick wall. She fell backwards and landed flat on her arse. Mariah looked up and nearly screamed. There standing in front of her was a tall, deathly pale, golden eyed, boy who, upon looking down at her roared with laughter. She laughed nervously, a look of pure terror spreading across her face. She got to her feet and retrieved her books from the floor.

"I'm so sorry; I wasn't looking where I was going." Mariah's voice trembled.

"Nah, my fault." The burly guy replied. "I'm Emmet. You ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm Mariah by the way." Mariah said looking up at Emmet and then slightly to the side at the other boy he was with. He was a vampire too. Both had golden eyes, and there was only one other person she knew who had eyes like theirs…Carlisle Cullen. Was he here?

"This is my brother Jasper." Emmet said, gesturing to the boy beside him. Neither of them looked like students. They looked about four years too old to be in high school.

"Pleasure to meet you." Mariah forced a sweet smile and a nod. "Um… I am really sorry though -"

"No really, don't worry about it." Emmet said, smiling warmly at her.

"Ok, well I'd better go." Mariah said, turning on her heel and bolting down the corridor away from them as the bell rang sounding the start of the next class.

* * *

When lunch came, Mariah cautiously looked around the cafeteria searching for the two she had seen earlier. She saw them sitting at the far table with three others. She was about to walk over to them when Jessica grabbed her arm and practically dragged her over to a table not far from where she had been standing.

"Eric!" Jessica squealed. "This is Mariah, the one I was telling you about!"

"Hey there." Eric said, eyeing her off.

"Hi." Mariah said timidly, sitting down next to Jessica. "Who're they?"

"Oh." She said, looking down at her tray. "They're the Cullen's. Yeah, they're doctor and Mrs. Cullen's foster kids. They moved down here from Alaska a few years back. They kinda keep to themselves, because they're all together. Like 'together' together. Um, ok, the tall dark haired one you ran into, that's Emmet and he's with the blonde girl Rosalie. And the little dark haired girl, that's Alice and she's with Jasper, the one who looks like he's in pain."

They were quite the family. None of them looked alike, but were all heartbreakingly beautiful. But then, all vampires were. Mariah noticed that Jessica had left one of them out.

"Who's the last one?" Mariah asked.

"That's Edward Cullen, totally gorgeous obviously, but apparently no one here's good enough for him." Jessica laughed quickly. "Like I care."

Mariah raised an eye brow and wondered when he had turned her down. She looked over her shoulder at them to find them each staring at her like she was different from all the other people in the school cafeteria, like she was special…like they knew.

Mariah found their stares unnerving and so turned back to the others at the table. Eric and Mike seemed to be planning a trip to a local beach. But their conversation didn't capture Mariah so she got up, disposed of her lunch tray, and headed outside.

The warm, summer's breeze blew in her face and whipped her hair about her head. She walked out onto the large, grassy school grounds, breathing in the scent of flowers. Mariah heard a car screech into the parking lot and spun around in fear. The cars breaks screamed as the car pulled up just short of a cement pole, the driver jumping from the vehicle with a gun in his hand, searching for someone. Searching for her. He spotted her and headed towards where she was standing, frozen with fear. He had found them, but how? Mariah couldn't move, couldn't scream, she could only stand there paralyzed.

He came towards her, a sadistic smile lingering on his lips the way it always had. Several of the other students came out onto the schools oval, completely oblivious as to what was happening for a few seconds. When it sunk in, the girls screamed and the guys yelled out for help. Eric began calling 911 but, in his frightened state, he broke down when giving the details to the officer at the other end. The Cullen's were outside in a flash, fear for Mariah's life evident on their faces. The man stopped in his tracks ten metres from where she was standing and spun back towards her classmates, pointing the gun at them.

Mariah's voice returned. "GET DOWN!" she screamed at them. Her legs began working at the same time and she bolted towards her classmates.

The man tripped and Mariah flew past him, shoving people to the ground. She heard him start towards her again, this time pointing the gun at the Cullen's. With a smile on his face he shot at them, emptying the cartridge in the process. Mariah, knowing they had to keep their secret and at the same time irrationally not wanting them to get hurt, threw herself in the line of fire and took the six bullets that had been fired at them. Mariah screamed in agony and fell to the ground holding her side; blood spattered her clothes and arms. Blood spurted from the gunshot wounds in her body, dazed with pain and confused; Mariah lay there clutching her side, feeling herself slip away from the scene and the noise of running feet, two more gunshots and more excruciating pain, before drifting off into darkness.


	3. Back Into The Realm Of Consciousness

Mariah slowly came back into the realm of consciousness, but kept her eyes closed, and listened to the voices quietly talking around her.

"I can't believe you didn't tell me about her." A hurt female voice said.

"I didn't know how. I just thought…I don't know what I thought." She recognised the voice. It was Carlisle.

"How you kept from thinking about her for so long is astounding." A velvet soft voice mused.

"She'll be a wonderful new addition to the family." A tinkling, bell-like voice sang quietly.

"She's scared." A male voice said.

"Well then." Another male voice said, sounding like he was having the time of his life. "Wake up sleepyhead."

Mariah reluctantly opened her eyes and gazed up at the faces that surrounded her. She was in hospital, she hated hospitals. Something about them frightened her and the beeping and whirring of medical machines was unnerving to her.

Slowly, Mariah sat up. At first she only looked at her hands, but then she shot Carlisle a questioning look when he went to get up. She looked around herself again, at each of their staring faces, and then back at her hands.

"You do know that it's rude to stare, right?" Mariah asked sarcastically.

They continued to look at her with a puzzled expression etched on each of their beautiful faces. They each in turn looked over at Carlisle and waited for him to say something. Emmet, no longer able to stand the silence, was the first to break it.

"I think we're entitled sweetie," Emmet smiled at Mariah. "After all, we were here first and really weren't expecting to see, well, anything like you really."

Mariah blinked up at him, then turned to Carlisle. "I think you owe me an apology."

"I already gave it to you. I left a letter for you, explaining why-" Carlisle began but she cut him off sharply.

"Oh really? A letter. That just makes it all better now, doesn't it? No really I'm touched, you shouldn't have." Mariah fumed at him; all the years of hurting inside exploding out of her now like a newly awakened volcano.

"Did you even read it?" Carlisle asked, unaffected by her sudden outburst of anger.

"Seriously. What are you on about? I never received any letter from you ever." Mariah felt her eyes turn black with bottled up rage from the past five years directed at him. Several gasps of shock brought her back to her senses and she looked around at the woman standing on her right. Mariah recognised her from one of the photos Carlisle had kept in his wallet when she had been younger.

"Esme…" Mariah whispered, wishing she had kept her temper under better control.

"Do you know me?" Esme asked, looking as if she was about to cry. If only she could.

"Carlisle has a photo of you in his wallet. I saw it once when I was small." Mariah replied.

Esme looked at Carlisle, more hurt than before. "She knew everything about us but we knew nothing about her."

"That's not entirely true." Mariah put in to defend Carlisle. "I only knew about you Esme, and, um…Carlisle kind of told me all about you. He taught me everything I know about your kind as well when I was small."

"We know. As soon as he saw you, he recognised you. Edward here told us everything that immediately went through his head when he saw you, which was pretty much everything." Esme smiled down at Mariah, then glared over at Carlisle. "I can't believe you just left her at that orphanage. We would have cared for and loved her just the same as you did. I wish you had brought her home."

"She likes the idea of that Esme." Jasper said with a smile.

"I thought I was protecting her from a life filled with danger." Carlisle tried to explain.

"I know," Mariah sighed and they all looked at her in surprise. "If only you knew the danger you left me in."

"What do you mean Riah?" Carlisle asked her anxiously.

"At first it was nothing. Bullying and teasing, but soon after came the beatings. I stayed for two years hoping you would come back. During that time I was attacked, mugged, beaten, stabbed, shot and…" Mariah's voice faded away into nothing and she shuddered at the memory.

"And? And what Mariah? Look at me Riah, and what?" Carlisle urged her to continue, his voice filled with worry and hurt.

"And… raped." Mariah's voice was no more than a whisper.

"Mariah…" Carlisle began.

"What? You think I'm lying! You taught me better than that. You want me to show you? I will if you don't believe me." Mariah's voice shook with the hurt she felt.

"Carlisle… she's telling the truth." Jasper said, looking at the small, broken girl sitting in the hospital bed with anxious eyes.

Mariah looked at Carlisle, tears streaming down her face for the first time in years. She hadn't cried since he'd left her on the steps of the orphanage. By the look in his eyes, he had no choice but to believe her. He looked at her with sad eyes, but soon they were all laughing with one another. Mariah had showed them her entire life using her mind to imprint it on each of their minds. Esme and Carlisle smiled at her while the others took turns asking her questions about herself and Alice planned a party to welcome her to the family which was, in Alice's opinion, far overdue.

"It seems fair," Alice mused. "We gain a sister, and you gain a family. Cool, huh?"

"If you say so." Mariah laughed. Then, she heard something. It was Troy, out in the lobby, asking after her. "Carlisle…when can I go?"

His smile dimmed slightly. "Do you want to go?" he asked.

"No, well, yes actually. I would really like to get out of the hospital…plus, Troy is kind of looking for me."

"Who's Troy?" Emmet asked enthusiastically.

"Steady Em. Troy's a good friend of mine." Mariah explained, smiling while she did so.

"No I want to see her now." Troy's voice floated down a corridor to Mariah's ears.

"I'm sorry sir but you can't until she's cleared to see you." A nurse said.

"It's alright Sara, she's fine." Carlisle called after the nurse.

Troy turned on the spot and headed back towards Carlisle. As he got closer, he saw Mariah sitting in a hospital bed and he broke into a frantic run. He pulled up just short of the bed and bent down over her. He looked her over thoroughly and then turned to Carlisle.

"Is she gonna be alright Doc?" He asked, panic clear in his voice.

"Yes son, she'll be fine. Quite an eventful first day of school, if I do say so." Carlisle smiled at Mariah warmly.

"So, she can come home right?" Troy asked hopefully.

"I think she could leave the hospital-" Carlisle began.

"Here we go." Mariah cut him off, rolling her eyes slightly as she did so.

"But," he continued sternly, eyeing Mariah respectively. "I would like to keep her one night at my home for observation, just to make sure she really is ok."

"Sure," Troy agreed immediately, unthinkingly. "Whatever you think is best for her."

"I'll need to grab some stuff then." Mariah suddenly beamed up at Carlisle.

"I'll get your things for you." Troy said.

"It's settled then." Alice and Esme said in unison.

"Ok then," Mariah looked round at all of them, smirking slightly, as Troy left. "This will be interesting."


	4. A Truth Dawns

The Cullen's house was enormous. Possibly the biggest home Mariah had ever seen outside of LA. It was so light and open, which fitted. After all, this was the one place that they didn't have to hide what they were; they could just be themselves here. A family, together, at home.

Mariah walked around the luxurious house, looking in awe and envy at the exquisite paintings and luscious carvings that worked their way along the wooden surface of the staircase. The architecture of the building was brilliant. It was modern, but also captured something of the past. There was a slight feeling of the Victorian Era lingering in the walls and elegant archways. Mariah was sure that Esme and Alice had had the most part to play when it came to designing this place.

While she was wondering, Mariah noticed that she had ended up at the door to what looked like a study. Hesitantly, Mariah knocked on the door. As she awaited a reply, Jasper suddenly appeared at her side. He smirked when she jumped, then his smirk turned into a warm, friendly smile. He turned from Mariah and banged loudly on the door.

Carlisle answered the door with a confused look on his face. He looked at Jasper first until he sighted Mariah out of the corner of his eye. Carlisle turned to her, a wide smile on his face.

"Come in Riah." Carlisle invited, his already too wide smile widening even more, as he turned and headed back into his study.

"Thanks." Mariah smiled up at Jasper who smiled back before disappearing. "That's cheating." She whispered after him, smiling. As she walked into the study Mariah heard them all laugh out loud. She closed the door behind herself and turned to face Carlisle. No sooner than she had faced him, he grabbed her in a crushing hug that would have killed a normal human.

"It's so good to have you back, I missed you so much," Carlisle whispered into her hair. "Leaving you at that orphanage was the worst mistake I've ever made."

"I love where this is going," Mariah choked out, unable to breathe in from him hugging her so tightly. "But I still need air."

The others laughed and Carlisle released her from his bone crushing hug. "Sorry, can you forgive me?"

"There's nothing to forgive," Mariah doubted her own words. "You were doing what you thought was right."

"I feel guiltier now. You've taken all the guilt for why I left you. I can see it in your face." Carlisle said slowly.

"Really, it's alright. It doesn't matter any more. I do however have a few questions to ask you though if you have time…" Mariah wondered out loud.

"Of course. What did want to ask?" Carlisle clapped his hands together enthusiastically.

"If you're a reincarnation of someone… do you usually see visions of what happened in your past life?" Mariah asked, looking at the floor.

"Only if you're rather strong mentally." Carlisle replied, sounding confused.

"You mean if you're someone like me?" Mariah asked, looking up into his eyes.

"Yes, it's possible. Why?" he asked.

"You see that painting there," Mariah said, pointing to an oil painting near to them depicting a ballroom with dancing figures below and above, on a balcony overlooking the scene, four figures exquisitely dressed. "Who do you see in it?"

"Do you mean people of great importance?" he asked.

"Yes." Mariah replied politely.

Carlisle returned his attention to the painting. "I see the three Volturi brothers Aro, Caius and Marcus."

"Is that all… look closer. The young woman. The one standing near Aro and Caius." Mariah instructed.

Carlisle once again returned his attention to the painting, looking where she instructed. It took less than a second for Carlisle to recognise the young woman in the portrait. His jaw dropped and his head turned to look at Mariah, then the painting, and then Mariah again.

"It's… its y… you." He finally stammered out, his expression utterly bewildered.

Mariah waited for Carlisle to collect himself. By the time he had composed himself, Mariah was sitting at his desk playing a game of Solitaire on his computer. She got up nervously and made her way back over to his side.

Carlisle stood there looking at the painting then glancing nervously towards Mariah who stood next to him clutching her hands together while biting her lower lip, a habit she had grown into over the many years that he had known her.

It was like looking into a mirror, the girl in the painting minus the outdated clothing looked exactly like Mariah down to the finest detail. The same petite form to her large emerald green eyes that shimmered with something that Carlisle had never been able to name were staring back at him as he looked at the girl in the painting trying to figure out how he had ever missed such an important detail.

"I remember things... things that I shouldn't." Mariah interrupted his thought in a small whisper of a voice.

Turning to face the girl next to him fully he looked down at her seeing the same scared little girl that he remembered from the first night he had met her in that dreaded hospital.

"Mariah I don't understand how this is possible" Carlisle said trying to rack his brain for a logical explanation behind this.

"That girl... she is me... but she isn't at the same time" Mariah whispered looking over his shoulder at the painting that hung on the large white wall.

Silence then filled the air while they both were pulled into deep thought trying to work out what next to say.

"She is you and you are her" Carlisle said finally breaking the awkward silence that still hung in the air.

"Yes" Mariah said as she looked at the girl in the painting knowing that it couldn't be anyone else even if she tried to think such thoughts.

Mariah slowly stepped around Carlisle and reached up traced the sides of the heavy frame. The girl's eyes in the painting seemed to be staring back at her boring into her very soul. She could remember when she first started to see flashes of this girl's life. It had all began on her fifteenth birthday at first it hadn't worried her, thinking that she was hallucinating or day dreaming. But then, about a month after they started, they became to become more intense, she had started to suffer fainting spells. As she let her fainting spell take hold of her once again she was pulled back into the temporary darkness where she would see flashes of a life that wasn't hers... where she was forced to wait until she woke up.

There wasn't a day that went by where she wouldn't be forced to endure of the same pain that the girl from her dreams did. It was like she was trapped behind bars unable to move... unable to talk... just able to feel. For such a happy life, the girl died such a painful death. It had been like a fairy tale coming true... until that night. The night where that girl realised that there would be no happy ending for her...

Mariah had felt every feeling... every emotion that the girl in the painting had. She had sat and watched as the girl had gotten to the point in her life where she was ready to take the next step. She had been so happy, overwhelmed with the feelings of joy and love. Not only had the girl found not only one soul mate but two. She had also found a reason to live... a reason to wake up every morning.

She had been running... running towards her future when it had happened... when she had gotten to the moment where her life was cruelly taken from her... the moment where she had lost all her free will. Mariah had watched as the girl had been too caught up with her happiness to even notice the dark shape lurking in the shadows of the ally way she had run down, trying to get to her loves faster.

Mariah had tried to scream and shout. Tried to warn the girl of the danger she was willingly running into without even knowing. But it was like there was a hand covering her mouth making her unable to talk... unable to scream or shout. So instead she was forced to sit there and watch with tears running down her face as a man had come out of the shadows and tried to rob the girl.

It wasn't the first time she was forced to watch this particular scene play out before her eyes. She relived it over and over again being blinded by flashes of the dreadful, heart-wrenching moments of the girls last moments on this earth. She had felt the pain the girl had as the bullet pierced through her skin and punctured her heart that was already beating rapidly.

She had almost gotten away... she had almost saved herself... but it was to late now... as she felt her body go limp as it fell towards the cold, cobbled-stone street crashing like a thousand bricks on the hard ground beneath her. Mariah had tried to struggle... tried to run to the girl and save her from her fate... but she was trapped... trapped inside her own mind unable to help the girl as the evil manic of a man loomed over the girls dying body snarling down at her.

It was then that not only the man but also Mariah snapped their heads up trying to find the source of the noise that had just erupted through the silent night. Two men were running down the stairs of the castle worry and anger written all over both faces as they saw the scene before them. Saw their love lying limply on the ground blood staining and drenching her clothing running down her pooling around her body as her body drained of colour.

One of the men let out an ear piercing screech as he launched himself at the girl's attacker violently ripping the man limb from limb while the other man fell to his knees as he pulled the girls body into his lap shouting at her to keep her eyes open. But it was all to late, so as the girl looked up into the eyes of one of the men she loved she let a single tear run down her blood cover cheek mixing in with the blood staining the teardrop red.

Mariah remembered those events as if they had happened to her, as if it had been her that had died that night.

As she turned away from the painting, and looked up at the man who had become like a father to her, the truth finally dawned on her.

"She is me... in another life... another time" Mariah whispered as a single tear drop also fell from her eye but this time shimmering clearly not tainted with the blood of her death. This time it showed new life... a new start... a new beginning.

Edward appeared at the doorway, causing Mariah to jump. He looked at her in wonderment. "You are a reincarnation of yourself from whenever this was done." Edward said, gesturing toward the painting. Carlisle looked at the painting with sad eyes while whispering-

"Live so that thou mayest desire to live again - that is thy duty - for in any case, thou wilt live again."


	5. Remembering First Sight

The realization of exactly how extraordinary Mariah truly was baffled the Cullen family. Even though Carlisle, Edward and Jasper had encountered reincarnations of people they had known before, the fact that Mariah had been brought back onto the Earth was astonishing. As far as they knew, Mariah had been a normal girl who had been given an opportunity to be painted beside the leaders of the Volturi coven. But Mariah wasn't letting on as much as she knew.

Yes, she had been an ordinary girl. She had no uncanny abilities in her previous life, and in that sense had been normal. But her life had not been nearly as normal as she now wished it had been. She had been the lover and soul mate to two of the Volturi brothers, in particular, Aro and Caius. Both leaders of the vampire world.

Mariah often reminisced over the early days of her previous life. She had been born in London, England, into a rather well off family. She had grown up as an unselfish girl and always cared for those less fortunate than herself. She had always thought of others lives before her own, and as such found herself in many a slippery situation, but being able to talk her way out of trouble was her true talent and saving grace.

When the Flu Epidemic hit London, her family was thought to be one of the lucky ones to have avoided it, but that had not been the case. Just when it had seemed that the disease was dissipating, her mother had fallen ill. Doctors back then were few and unreliable, and the illness took her mothers life. She had only been twelve years old at the time. Mariah didn't leave her room for days, grieving for her mother, and months passed and nobody heard her laugh or saw her smile.

Her had father started to become desperate, not wanting his only child to waste away from sadness and so, without a word to anyone, her father packed up everything they possessed and took them to Italy to begin anew. A fresh start in a new place, where Mariah could look out her window and see a cloudless sky, feel the sun on her face, see the stars at night.

The voyage had been a pleasant one, with no storms and a good sea breeze pushing them along swiftly. While her father got sea-sick and continued to fall over whenever the ship rocked, Mariah was the opposite, with a strong stomach and good sea legs, she had made the ships crew look like lily-livered land lubbers.

The change of scenery, the smell of the ocean and the sea spray finally brought up Mariah's spirits. She began singing and smiling again, to her father's great delight, and made good friends with the crew of the ship. After two weeks of their departure, the ship had docked at Bordeaux, France. They then had taken a carriage the rest of the way.

The carriage ride had been less than pleasant, with storms and muddy roads slowing their progress. Many times Mariah had asked her father where they were going but he would merely smile and looked out the window as if he had answered her question.

It continued like this for some time, until Mariah hadn't been able to stand not knowing any longer when they had had that conversation and _they_ had gone past them.

"Father?" Mariah had said, waiting for him to reply.

"Yes Mariah." Her father had replied, turning to look at her.

"How much further?" she had asked.

"Not long now, my child."

"Where are we going? Where are we to live?"

"We will live as we did before. I have had this house for a few years now and thought I'd make good use of it." He had said, hoping that it would be enough to distract her from her previous question.

"Where?"

"You're just like your mother." He had smiled down at her. "We will be living in Volterra."

"Volterra," Mariah had replied with definite uncertainty in her voice. She had known the stories that had come out of that place from passers through, saying that some who went in never came out again.

"Yes Volterra. I'm sure you'll love it. It's sunny nearly every day and it's by the sea so you'll have plenty to occupy yourself with." He had finally told her.

Mariah had then struck up a conversation with the French maid riding with them, Colette. Having been brought over to England from France only four years ago, Colette knew little English and could only speak French, and so Mariah had learnt French to help her.

They had gone through a rather poor village, many of the townsfolk living in poverty. Mariah looked out her window, her heart filled with pity for the adults and fear for the children's lives. She couldn't just sit there and not do anything about it. So, she had opened her purse, grabbed two handfuls of gold and threw them out the window at starving passers by.

"Poverty is a lack of knowledge to acquire money to feed one's self and your family." Her father had said bluntly.

But Mariah had one of her moments where she sounded far older, and far wiser, than she really thought she was.

"No father," she had said, eyes filled with sorrow. "Poverty is the absence of kindness, charity and compassion."

They had then passed the town and were well on their way to their destination. While leaning her head out the window, Mariah had heard horses behind them. She had turned to look behind their transport and had seen there a splendid carriage looking as though it belonged to royalty. A man in a big, gray, hooded cloak was driving the horses as hard as they could go.

"Driver," Mariah had called. "I think you had better let them pass."

"Yes ma'am." The driver had called back, steering their carriage to the other side of the road.

Mariah had watched as the other carriage came up beside them and held steady with their pace. One man seated inside the carriage had turned to look at Mariah. He had been handsome, with ruby red eyes set into his face. He had smiled warmly at her before a puzzled expression crossed his face. He had looked at someone beside him and then back at Mariah before realization crossed his face and he gave her another warm smile. He had been about to get the person next to him to look at her when their carriage sped off down the beaten track.

Without knowing, Aro and Caius had allowed themselves to be pulled away from their soul mate.

Mariah brought herself back to the present as someone called her name. Unwillingly, Mariah looked up into the face of Carlisle who looked confused at best, panicky at worst.

"It's ok Carlisle, I'm still with you." Mariah smirked as he finally realised what had happened. Mariah had had another flash back into her past life. He relaxed and sat down across from her with Jasper.

"Does that happen often?" Carlisle asked politely.

"Yeah, every two days or so." Mariah replied.

"How much do you remember Mariah?" Jasper inquired.

"Pretty much everything." And, oh boy, did Mariah mean everything. Not that she'd ever tell them that. "It comes in flashes, so I have to wait for the images to flesh themselves out." Ok that was a tiny bit of a white lie. She saw whole sequences of her life at any given time they decided to be brought into her consciousness.

"And when they do happen, is it all in one shot or in several takes?" Carlisle asked her.

"Only one piece of my old self at a time… but over several different intervals." Mariah said

"And today is one of those days." Carlisle said.

"Yep. There'll be another one any time now… hold up…" Mariah was once more sucked into the ocean of memories that were submerged in her subconscious.

_Flashback_

Mariah was sitting in her room, by her window, overlooking the city square. Something hit her window, making her jump. She opened her window and leaned out. Down on the street below her window were her friends Remus, Giovanni, Claudia, Carla and Benito.

Mariah flew down the stairs and out into the street to her friends. They were all pleased to see her, all glad to see her happy and smiling.

They ran through the streets of Volterra, down the side ally's to the sea side. They walked along the sandy shore and enjoyed the feeling of dry sand beneath their feet and the sun on their faces. Every now and then splashing each other with the salt water, laughing, a group of best friends enjoying each others company.

On the rocky cliffs above the six of them, little known to the group, stood two men, ornately dressed in only the finest fashions of the season. They watched the young ones muck about and run around chasing each other. The two who watched stayed in the shadows of the trees that lined part of the cliff edges. That was when they had not known her. Only known he scent as it drifted up to the on the evening breeze.

They had left before the six friends had, and had retreated back to the castle.

Mariah and her friends had gone back into the city and each had returned home. Her face was flushed from all the running and laughing that had surpassed during the afternoon. She ran upstairs and went back to her room. She looked down from her open window and saw _them_. They stood there looking up at her from the shadows of the clock tower. And in that moment, Mariah had known that she would be theirs forever.

"Sorry 'bout that." Mariah whispered as she came back to the present, and looked at the seven faces staring at her.

"So, what did you see?" Emmet beamed down at her as he sat down on a sofa, Rosalie on his lap.

"You want to know?" Mariah asked, uncertainty clouding her sparkling, green eyes.

"It would help us to understand what might happen in the future," Carlisle said. "After all, history has a way of repeating itself."

"Great, I'd better keep a watchful eye." Mariah said glumly, looking out the window at the beginnings of a storm. Boy, did she have some explaining to do.


	6. Visions to Dreams

Over the weeks that followed, pieces of her life's puzzle began to fall into place. Carlisle was so happy to have back in his life and Esme loved Mariah as if she were her own daughter. Mariah finally felt at peace. Finally felt like she truly belonged. She soon had an entire photo album full of photographs of her new family. Mariah was happy and, coincidently, completely unaware of what lay ahead of her.

Carlisle had to know what the connection was between her and the Volturi. But she couldn't answer his questions, not without revealing every embarrassing detail of her previous life. Carlisle, not being able to stand not knowing what interest she had held for them, sent an email to the Volturi with an attached photo of his family. With Mariah at the center of the image. At the center of the family. At the heart, where she belonged.

Whether this email would get to the two Volturi brothers or not was impossible to say. And he didn't ask Alice to see if it would, so not only did he not ask her but he also didn't think of it again.

Mariah remained oblivious to what Carlisle had done meanwhile, and took to hanging with her new family as often as work, school, band practice and homework allowed. Esme was the mother she had always wanted. Carlisle, a perfect father figure. Emmet, Jasper and Edward were the brothers she had never had. And Alice and Rosalie were like sisters to her, her best friends. Mariah loved them all dearly and hated to be parted from them for extended periods of time. Unfortunately, that was unavoidable though.

More time passed and, slowly, everything began to fall into place. Her old life made more sense to her. Her love for the two Volturi leaders more pronounced. And soon, she began to miss them, like she knew they were never coming back.

Still the visions of her past life came to her. Some were pleasant, others not so much. But fewer came during the day, and they began coming to her at night while she slept. They also became longer and more defined, allowing her to glimpse things that she had missed previously.

Mariah thought about her day while she got ready for bed. School had been bearable, but she had been waiting to get home. She and the guys had all wanted to practice for an upcoming gig they were doing for a local club. As usual, some of her schoolmates had come to watch them practice and to hang out with Mariah.

Shaking her head at some of the things that they had said, Mariah turned out her light and climbed into bed. With the sound of rain sheeting down onto her corrugated iron roof soon had in a deep sleep. Images flashed in front of her closed eyes as her sleep deepened and became clearer as she focused on them.

Mariah was 99% sure she was dreaming. Dreaming once again of her past reincarnation. She had long since discovered that it had been in the early seventeenth century in which she had once lived and loved to see the fashions of the time for real.

_The Dream_

The year was sixteen thirty two, in Italy. At the height of the renaissance. She and her father had moved from London, England, to Volterra, Italy, four years ago. Now seventeen, Mariah enjoyed spending time with her friends in the usually sun filled, cobbled stone streets of Volterra.

In this dream, she was out in the streets with several of her friends running through the city's laneways. They had stopped outside Benito's betrothed's home in the main square as the clock tower struck twelve o'clock. Several strangers eyed their group wearily from across the square.

Suddenly a young girl slipped down an ally way to Mariah's left. Mariah watched her disappear into the shadows as her friends went inside to escape the hot sun. Turning toward the ally, she heard a scream. Not thinking twice, Mariah bolted down the ally after the girl. Mariah's eyes, used to the light, were useless in this dark, but when they adjusted, the sight that lay before her was horrifying.

Bent double over the girl's body stood a man. Mouth at her neck, coupled with the sound of sucking filled Mariah with revulsion. She looked on, unable to turn away, filled with utter disgust. The killer looked up and snarled. 'Vampire' Mariah thought, eyes widening in fear, as he came towards her.

Mariah screamed, still frozen with fear. Suddenly, seemingly out of thin air, the cloaked people from the square appeared, cornered, arrested and led the murderous vampire away. Able to move for the first time since seeing the monstrosity that had unfolded before her eyes, Mariah stumbled forward and leaned heavily against the wall.

"Sophie…" Mariah whispered as she recognised the girl she had sought to help, her hand outstretched towards the dead girl's limp body.

As several of the cloaked people took the enraged and struggling vampire away, three others remained. Removing their hoods, they looked at Mariah with anxious eyes. Two with long dark hair and the other with a shock of snowy-white, shoulder length hair.

Cautiously edging towards the grief stricken girl who, by now had slid down the wall, had tears streaming silently down her rosy cheeks. The blonde one reached out to comfort her but Mariah shrank back from his touch. Looking up at his face, Mariah nearly died from the beauty she saw there. He looked very much like an angel and, for a moment, Mariah did actually believe she had died and gone to heaven.

"I won't hurt you, I promise." He said quietly. "Are you alright?"

Mariah didn't know what to say. Physically, she was fine. But mentally and emotionally she knew she was scarred. Mariah was going into shock and as this happened; she noticed the colour of their eyes for the first time… blood red.

He ran his hand up and down her arm, slow, seductive, but too cold to be human. Mariah was sure this was meant to be comforting, but its effect defeated its purpose. His touch sent desire, like a series of electric shocks, through her body and then directly to her heart.

"What is your name young one?" he asked, even though she had not yet answered his first question.

She looked at him for a second before answering, "Mariah Cheasley."

"It's a beautiful name, it suits you perfectly." he seemed to say to himself.

"Who're you?" Mariah asked, her words slurring together slightly.

"I am Caius and these are my brothers, Marcus and Aro. We are the leaders of the Volturi." He said confidently.

Hesitantly, Mariah turned away from Caius to look at Aro and Marcus. She felt a sudden wave of want wash over her. The face she saw next was unlike any she had ever seen, and was easily just as beautiful as Caius' had been. Aro looked back at her, his pale skin partly illuminating the space around him. Marcus, who was not quite as beautiful as Aro or Caius but still handsome, looked on with detached eyes. Marcus whose eyes, were not only the brightest red, glistened gently in the darkness that surrounded him.

Mariah swallowed and then said softly, "Hello."

"Good day to you. Do not worry my dear; he will have justice served to him." Marcus replied. "Forgive me, but… are you afraid?"

"Why? Should I be?" Mariah looked down at her hands.

"You do know who we are, don't you?" Marcus inquired.

"Yes." Mariah knew what they were too, and this did frighten her. She looked up now into Marcus' eyes.

"Wait a minute!" Aro chimed in. "You're that girl who takes the children who come into the castle with the adults."

"I don't take the children. I save them from you!" Mariah clarified angrily. She suddenly wished she had kept her mouth shut from the look she got from each of them. Aro's eyes seemed to sparkle as his face lit up.

"Save them? From what are you saving them, dear one? And how do you it's any worse than how they live now?" Aro asked, still smiling.

"Good God in heaven! Are you always so…so… ecstatic?! Living life, or in your case allowing others to live life, is better than simply throwing that life away! And besides, they're just children! They haven't had the chance to really live yet. Granted, even your kind need sustenance to survive, but not children! How could you be so cruel? So heartless? So without mercy, as to not even give those children the chance to live. Those children, on which the future of Volterra relies. God only knows how long you have lived. You've had time, but they haven't even started. It's just wrong." Mariah fumed at them. "I know what you are…" her voice faded away.

"And what are we?" Caius asked. He, like the others, looked at her in awe. She knew. This girl knew what they were and still had the courage to stand up to them.

"Vampires." Mariah replied, her voice sure and confident.

"Then you must know what we can do to you," Aro began, as he edged forward towards Mariah slightly.

Mariah was on her feet in an instant, bolting for the sunlight where she knew they couldn't follow. A hand caught her arm, stopping her instantly and jerking her back in their direction. She slammed into Aro, who held her securely to his chest.

"Shhhh, Cherie'." Aro whispered into her hair as he pushed her back against the wall of the ally, forcing her to look at him. Mariah continued to struggle fruitlessly against his iron grip.

"Uh, uh, uhh." Marcus said almost gleefully as he and Caius fell into place behind Aro.

Mariah had little choice at this point but to glare up at each of them as Aro attempted to finish his sentence.

"Let me finish, dear one. What we can do to you… but won't. You're the first person to stand up to all three of us in over six centuries. It's good for us to be put in our place now and then." Aro smiled down at her.

"So let me go!" Mariah half yelled.

"Aaaaah… no." Aro seemed as if letting her go would cause him pain.

"What! Okay, if you don't let me go I'm going to scream and I'm not gonna stop screaming! HEL-" Aro covered her mouth with his hand to silence her screamed plea for help.

"Wait a moment, young one. Will you promise to never tell another living soul of our existence?" Aro's expression was almost mocking, as if he knew what she was thinking and found it amusing.

"What?! I've known for three years and you think I'm going to tell people now? People would think I was insane. They'd put me in a mental asylum! Of course I'm not going to bloody tell!" Mariah was suddenly very calm.

"Promise?" Caius asked, pleading with his eyes slightly.

"Of course I promise. Geese." Mariah struggled against Aro's hold again, but to no avail.

Marcus went to dispose of the body and Aro let her go. Mariah ran down the ally toward the light and Aro and Caius watched her go with remorse. However, when Mariah reached the light, she stopped, turned and came back. She hugged both of them and kissed each on the cheek. She took a step back, blushed delicately, curtseyed and ran back into the light, down a laneway and out of sight.

Both Aro and Caius touch their cheek she had kissed; seeming to know what they now felt for her would change their existence forever. Seemed to know that they had found their true other half. That they had each found their soul mate.

Even though she was so far away, Mariah knew they heard her whispered "Thank you…"

_End of Dream_

Mariah woke covered in a cold sweat, realization washed over her. She now knew the truth. Or, at least, was now admitting it to herself. She was the soul mate of two of the blackest hearts in all of history. Was the true soul mate of two of the blackest hearts in all of history, two of the feared leaders of the Volturi. Was… in love with the two Vampire leaders, Aro and Caius Volturi.


	7. The Unexpected Guests

It was bright outside when Mariah was awake enough to notice. Her mobile lay on the bedside table next to her… it was flashing. Mariah picked it up and realised why. She had four missed calls and seven messages waiting for her. Instead of checking her messages, she checked the caller ID. There was one from Alice, one from Jasper and two from Carlisle.

Right as she was about to call Carlisle back, Troy came in to get her up. His entry reminded her that they had to practice for an upcoming gig for an hour before they went out for a while. They were all going out into the Olympic Peninsular to hang out with each for a while and going to the movies to see something Pat and Ric had been waiting to see for ages.

They all drew straws to choose who was driving, Troy lost. Suzie and Chris were more into the shopping than the movie, and grumbled and complained through the whole film. All day Mariah didn't know where to go, didn't know whether she should run from her life or to stay and face what was to come. She couldn't choose between two different _'teams'_ and was so confused. She wanted to know what it all meant. All day she felt like screaming out loud from the stress that encompassed her entire being.

Mariah kept thinking back to that dream, to that kiss, to that feeling of unrequited love that had filled her. She was so completely lost in thought that, even though she watched the movie, when it finished Mariah had absolutely no idea what she had just seen.

"Riah! That was so cool! I mean that final battle sequence was totally awesome!" Troy babbled nearly inaudibly over the noise from the crowd.

"Yeah… totally." Mariah replied without thinking.

"It was a lost cause on you wasn't it?" Troy said, amused.

"Water under the bridge. I can see now why Suzie and Chris didn't want to see it." Mariah smirked up at him and Pat, knowing that they were hooked on the movie.

"Right on sister." Suzie smiled, punching Mariah lightly on the shoulder in appreciation.

"C'mon then. Let's head home before traffic starts to jam up." Troy said, now annoyed that he had to drive but still enthusiastic about the movie.

The first part of the drive home was uneventful. They joked and laughed and sung along to their favorite songs, but that was it. When they were only an hour from home though, Mariah's Mobile rang in her pocket. Checking the caller ID, she saw it was Carlisle.

"Ha, ha. Hey turn it down a bit, I'm on the phone." Mariah said as she put the phone to her ear. "Hello?"

"_Mariah? Mariah! Thank God!"_ Carlisle said desperately. _"So now you decide to answer your phone!"_

"Nice to hear your voice too Carlisle." Mariah replied, annoyed. "What's wrong?"

"_Mariah, please forgive me. I didn't know that this would happen. Please, come home."_

"Wow, what? Forgive you for what?"

"_Let's just say I've had a visit from some old friends of mine. And they came because I sent them an email with a certain photo attached to it, and um…"_

"Oh, no, Carlisle you didn't! Tell me you didn't send a photo with me in it to the Volturi! Please tell me you didn't!" Mariah whispered furiously over the phone.

"_Ok… I will not tell you."_

"Carlisle!"

"_I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, but you've got to get back here this instant. They want to see you."_

"Well they're going to be disappointed when they see me. I'm not the same as I used to be."

"_Have you been holding out on us? Did you know something you weren't telling us?"_ Carlisle accused over the phone.

"That's none of your concern. But right now I need a cover story to tell Troy so he'll drop me off at your place."

"_You weren't running away?"_

"No. I didn't know about this until just now."

"_Oh. Okay… tell him I need to see you. That there may have been a complication during the extraction of one of the bullets from your accident."_

"Okay then, I'll see you then Carlisle… bye." Mariah hung up before he had the chance to say anything else.

They were here. In Forks. To see her. This was all too much at the moment but she had to work this out. There had to be a way to fix this mess. There was always a way, and Mariah would find it. She had to, she needed to.

Giving Troy her flimsy excuse, which Troy bought, they redirected in the direction of the Cullen's place when they got back into Forks. Mariah was silent on the back seat as they went up the long drive to the home of the Cullen's. As they pulled up out the front a curtain pulled back from the window slightly. Mariah slowly undid her seatbelt and slid out of the car, waiting for it to have driven out of sight before turning back to the house.

She unwillingly walked toward the verandah, climbing the stairs as slowly as possible and standing outside the door considering whether or not to simply run away. Mariah didn't like her chances of getting to the tree line before someone caught her, but that option was incredibly tempting. Mariah turned around and took a step back the way she had just come when Alice appeared at her side, making Mariah jump a foot in the air.

"I'm watching you Mariah. They're being incredibly understanding at the moment, knowing that this must be a lot for you but it may not last." Alice said, putting a hand on Mariah's arm. "And yes, if you run someone will catch you before you even get halfway across the lawn. So, come inside."

"How many of them came?" Mariah's voice shook.

"Let me see… there's Aro, Caius, Marcus, Demetri, Felix, Alec, Jane, Heidi, Athenodora, Sulpicia and one more, oh what's his name… oh, yeah, Stephadro. By my count, that makes eleven."

"Oh. Okay… just give me a minute to make myself not run in fear." Mariah sat on the top stair and let her head fall into her hands in despair.

"Okay, but you have exactly thirty five seconds before Felix carries you in." Alice said while glaring at the door.

"Argh! Okay, I'm coming, Geese!" Mariah said, exasperated.

She was on her feet in an instant and turned for the door. But she still paused for an immeasurable moment before Alice opened the door and skipped inside. Mariah, very slowly, stepped inside and closed the door behind her. There was no one there and Mariah felt her eyes turn ice blue from how terrified she was.

"Carlisle…" she whispered, unable to raise her voice any louder.

Before she could blink, Carlisle stood in front of her, apologies in his eyes. He hugged her close, ignoring a growl from behind him. As he pulled back, Mariah saw that the room around her had now filled with people. Jasper stood beside her and the rest of the Cullen's were spread out among those of the Volturi. Carlisle stepped aside so Mariah could see. Aro smiled at her from across the room one second and then from directly in front of her. Mariah took an involuntary step back and he chuckled darkly before returning to his place across the room.

Mariah looked back toward the door for a second and then took a measured step toward Aro and Caius. Felix took this as his cue to appear right in front of Mariah, pick her up in a bone crushing hug and swing her round a few times. When he set her back on her feet, she laughed nervously and then glanced at Edward.

'_They won't hurt you Mariah. They're overjoyed to see you alive and well. They missed you immensely.' _Edward thought. With that encouragement, Mariah felt much braver.

"C'mon Ree, smile or they're gonna think you're severely depressed or something." Emmet said from directly behind her.

Caius growled threateningly. "Don't call her that."

"Leave him alone. I happen to like him calling me that, it's a nice change from the norm." Mariah said in fierce defence.

"Don't you like your name?" Sulpicia sneered.

"I like my name, why don't you?" Mariah spat in her direction.

"Be nice Mariah." Carlisle said gently.

Mariah read the thoughts of Sulpicia to see just how much she was despised by this woman.

'_Who does this little girl think she is? Does she think she can just come a take my power from me? What is she to them? If Aro chooses her over me I'll kill her!'_

"I actually don't think I'm anyone special at all. And as for your so called 'power' you think you have acquired, not only is it only given to you because you are Aro's wife, but I also don't want it. You can keep whatever power you have in your world. I am what I am to them, and as for you wanting to kill me, bring it. I'll give you a run for your money any day! Believe me, I don't care of he chooses you over me but I wouldn't kill you if he did. Think about that, Sulpicia." Mariah said so politely it had to be false, and she said it with an angelic smile on her face.

Mariah waited as Sulpicia looked from herself to Aro to Edward and back Mariah again, glaring all the while.

"And as for the mental jibe about Mariah being only a 'little girl'," Edward smirked. "From where I'm standing, she's no little girl. All the right curves in all the right places as far as I'm concerned… and Aro thinks so too."

"You watch yourself girl." Sulpicia spat before storming out of the house.

"That didn't end nearly as bad as I thought it would." Aro said to the room, still smiling.

"That was really pathetic." Mariah whispered after Sulpicia, and was rewarded with a feral snarl in reply from a very angry queen vampire.

Aro looked at her in awe. "Aren't you afraid of her?"

"No. She didn't even fight back. Not one spiteful remark, not one annoying jibe, nothing." Mariah said sounding rather disappointed.

"How did you know what she was thinking?" Aro inquired, his face animated with pure interest.

"I… I'm um…" Mariah looked around to Carlisle for help.

"Mariah is… different this time. She has special qualities in this life which aren't normal for a human." Carlisle intervened.

Aro ghosted forward and took Carlisle's hand. Mariah knew what he was doing. Aro was reading Carlisle's mind. Now every thought, feeling, spoken word, intimate moment, emotion and motive of Carlisle's, was Aro's. Aro released Carlisle's hand and looked at her, his face alight with excitement.

"And as for what you are… you are the soul mate of us both. And we will love you always." Aro bent down and kissed Mariah's cheek before holding her close. "_La tua cantante._"

Mariah looked over Aro's shoulder, as he said this, at Caius and Marcus. Caius looked back at her lovingly, while Marcus simply looked on with a blank face. Mariah read his thoughts to try and understand him better.

'_She is still their soul mate, but seems unwilling to admit to her self that she loves them. Mariah, stop reading my mind…"_ Marcus thought, suddenly smirking at her. Mariah's shocked expression made everyone in the room laugh and Edward, who knew why she was so shocked, laughed even harder and louder than the others.

Mariah spent the rest of the evening with those of the Volturi who actually liked her, and this did not include Sulpicia. She got to know them again, and was relentlessly questioned by all of them. Mariah was exhausted from the anxiety that she had felt all day that, even though she hadn't wanted to consciously, she fell asleep in Aro's arms.


	8. Fear to Love, Monster to Man

Mariah awoke the next morning to the sound of quiet rain and soft whispers all around her. She slowly became aware of the fact that she was freezing and shuddered involuntarily. There were several more whispers and someone chuckled lightly beside her. Someone kissed her hair and Mariah's eye lids fluttered a few times before she opened her eyes and gazed up at the ceiling.

"Good morning, my love." Aro whispered in her ear.

"Good morning Cherie'." Caius said from her other side.

Mariah ran her fingers through her hair once before slowly sitting up. She didn't remember coming up here last night. The last thing she really remembered was lying in Aro's arms as he sung to her, after that…nothing.

"I don't remember coming up here." Mariah said, still half asleep.

Aro chuckled. "You fell asleep, so Carlisle and Esme said you could sleep up here in their room."

"Oh." Was all Mariah could say.

"You weren't usually this confused in the morning." Caius smiled as she lay back down into the soft pillows.

"I wasn't a twenty first century teenager then." Mariah mumbled in her defence.

"How much do you remember?" Caius asked quietly.

"I remember once thinking of you as a white knight on a steed." Mariah said, blushing slightly before adding. "And I also remember certain other things which I'll leave to the imagination to figure out." Aro ran his hand up her thigh and nuzzled against her neck the way he always used to.

"I guess you also remember how happy we were whenever we were with you." Caius smiled again.

"I think you just broke your record for how many times you can smile in one sitting."

"Good thing I'm sitting, do I have a record for how many times I smile while standing?" His smile widened.

"You have rather corny jokes… but I love them." Mariah smiled up at him and winked. She had no idea what this simple gesture did to them.

It inspired the passion they had once shared with her. Reanimated their cold hearts. And, most of all, brought love, joy and… hope. Hope and meaning had been returned to both Aro and Caius when they had first set they're eyes on Mariah, their soul mate, their one true love.

The hours passed and Mariah became increasingly aware of the fact that it started getting dark outside. She needed to get home soon… before she said or did something to make them make her stay.

"Why don't you let Edward and I read your mind?" Aro asked in an uninterested voice. But Mariah knew better. She knew how much he wanted to see into, what he used to call, her labyrinthial mind. She looked back at him. He had a look on his face that resembled a child trying to feign innocence.

"You really should see your face," Mariah laughed. "It's priceless."

Aro seemed to know the game was up and went back to smiling at her in expectation. "You didn't answer my question Mariah."

"It is a valid question," Mariah tried to cover her remaining giggles, eventually succeeding. "Um, privacy I guess."

Aro suddenly looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"Last time, I didn't have a choice in whether you read my mind or not. It's dreadful having someone know exactly what you're thinking all the time, even more so considering you can see every thought I've ever had. So, this time I'm doing it my way." Mariah qualified.

"Dreadful? In what way?" Aro suddenly seemed overly amused, like he knew he could make her slip up and get her to say something that had several meanings.

"It's just really embarrassing." Mariah said carefully.

"You know you don't have to be embarrassed around us," Aro smiled mischievously. "And besides, it's not like you haven't read our thoughts since you got here."

"And it's not like we haven't done this before." Caius said, and he watched as realization dawned on her face and she pulled up the bed cover. He smirked, "Seen it."

"Actually, I haven't read your thoughts or Caius's for that matter." Mariah replied smugly, ignoring Caius's jibe.

"Ah, but you read Marcus's thoughts." Aro's smile widened.

"That was different. He barely ever says anything, and that makes it difficult to understand him. Plus I wanted to know why he looked so confused." Mariah suddenly wished she'd just shut her mouth.

Aro smiled darkly and Caius pushed her back down onto the bed. "Hello Marcus." Mariah said as she struggled against Caius to sit up again.

"Hello Mariah. Am I difficult to understand to you?" Marcus said as he floated across the room to the end of the bed.

"Not anymore." Mariah smiled. "I had a dream about you last night."

"Really..." Caius scoffed.

"Yeah, it's how I remember things. Through my dreams, I see glimpses of my old life. It's… bizarre." Mariah turned around in time to see his face become serious again. "I like you better when you smile."

"That, I can believe." Aro wrapped his arms around Mariah again. "I remember what you thought before, my dear."

"Why were you confused Marcus?" Mariah asked as she tried to remove Aro's arms from around her waist.

"Because your bond with them, is still as strong as it was before. But it seems to just keep getting stronger, especially if you have a sudden burst of emotion towards one of them." Marcus frowned.

"So if I get really, really angry with one, or both, of them I'll… make my bond with them stronger?" Mariah asked.

"Yes." Marcus replied, his face suddenly blank.

"Right, no emotional outbursts from me. Got it." Mariah said to the wall.

"Why? Don't you want to make the bond between you stronger?" Marcus was confused again.

"No, not at the moment. Can't I just get to know them without that?" Mariah said annoyed.

Just then, Demetri and Heidi entered the room and stood against a wall.

"Actually, no. No you can't Mariah. The bond between soul mates is so strong that neither can resist an urge that powerful. It was the same for me and Heidi as well. Sorry to be so blunt but, the females feel the need to submit to their mates every command and the males feel that animalistic urge to claim what is theirs," Demetri explained before smirking at Heidi. "Though it does become less powerful after a decade or so, which makes it easier for you both to focus on the matter at hand… when your mate is in the room."

"Oh… fan-tast-ic." Mariah said with overly done sarcasm.

"The fact that you've resisted this long is astounding." Demetri said, looking at her curiously.

"Believe me, it's not witho… … … I'm gonna stop right there." Mariah said looking at her feet, suddenly realising that her shoes were missing. "Where are my shoes?"

"Why, do you need them?" Aro smirked.

"Yeah. I do plan on going home at some point today." Mariah said before jumping off the bed, clean into Felix's waiting arms.

"Ha, ha," Felix laughed as he dumped her back onto the bed. "Gotcha!"

"Hey that's cheating!" Mariah smirked up at him as she slid off the bed and stood up. She was still in yesterday's clothes, but remembered also having a jacket which was now gone.

"Your shoes and jacket are downstairs Mariah." Felix smiled playfully down at her.

"But to get them, you first need to get past us." Demetri smiled as he stood in front of the door.

"Hmm, I wonder how I'll get out of this one… Emmet?" Mariah called softly.

"Yeah Riah?" Emmet appeared outside the door.

"Wanna play ball?" Mariah smiled knowing he knew this trick.

Emmet's smiled became dazzling. "Sure. Where to?"

"Stairs… outside." Mariah kept talking as if it were an every day conversation.

"'Scuse me boys." Emmet said as he bounded into the room.

"Don't hurt her or you'll wish you'd never been born." Aro said, shifting into a hunting crouch.

"Lighten up Aro," Mariah teased. "Besides, you'll love this trick."

"Ready?" Emmet asked.

"Aim," Mariah said, and Emmet let her step up onto his hand and held her steady. "Fire."

Emmet launched Mariah through the air on her side at the wall. Mariah made her molecular structure unmold, passed through the wall and reanimated her body in time to land delicately at the bottom of the staircase.

Mariah soon realised that she wasn't alone. Aro and Caius were standing in front of her gazing in wonder of what she had just done. Without thinking, Mariah hugged Aro and breathed in his scent.

"Neat trick huh?" Mariah smiled sweetly, before bounding over to the couch and retrieved her jacket and put her shoes on. When she turned back round, Aro and Caius had barely moved an inch, and were now surrounded by their guard.

"Please don't ever do that again." Aro pleaded.

"You nearly gave us both a heart attack, and that's not the easiest thing to do, you know?" Caius said.

"Why not? It's fun and I'm not getting hurt. Just take it easy, your royal highnesses. You may be used to having people bow to you every command, but not me. I'm gonna do things my way." Mariah said smugly as she turned and walked outside.

Carlisle waited for her round the side of the house where she had left her motor bike a few days back. He knew that this was how she was going to get home, so he waited here for her. As she came around the corner, Mariah looked up and smiled at the man who had been like a father to her for so long.

"Hey," Mariah said, hugging Carlisle. "Don't worry, it'll sort itself out. I know it will."

Then she got on her bike, started the engine and roared off down the road back to her house. But Caius and Aro had other plans. They didn't want to let her out of their sight, and a motorbike was absolutely out of the question. But Mariah had a head start, and was home before they picked up the trail her scent left behind her. It had only just started to rain again when Mariah pulled into the garage of her home. Troy was inside, singing along to an old song he knew and Ric waved to her from the door which led from the garage to the house. Mariah stood her bike in the corned of the garage and went inside to help make dinner.

"You were at the Cullen's all night Riah." Ric said as they laid the food on the table.

"Yeah, we had to go through a lot of paperwork and by the time we finished it was too late to call and ask for a lift home and they said I could stay the night there… so I crashed on their couch."

"And you were gone all day too." He continued.

"Yeah, they all wanted to play ball and asked if I would like to come alone. It's mad playing with them. I mean seriously, they're all like serious major league material… its insane! But a hell of a lot of fun though." Mariah formed excuses out of nowhere.

"Oh, and you didn't think to call to tell us this?" Ric raised an eyebrow as he asked this.

"Completely slipped my mind. I am sorry about that, really." Mariah apologized.

"I know. I'm just checking you weren't stuck out in a field somewhere." Ric always said this to end a conversation. And it was a good thing he did too, because at that moment, the rest all filed in for dinner and all conversation was diverted in more interesting areas. Like how pre-school went that day for Pat and Suzie's daughter Mandy, and the upcoming gig they all had to play for and who would babysit Mandy that night.

As the evening went on, Mariah became increasingly aware that they were being watched. But she couldn't see who was outside because of the lights inside.

"Troy, Ric… I'm just gonna pop outside for a minute for some fresh air." Mariah called as she went outside to investigate.

It was easier to see her surroundings outside without the lights of the house blinding her. Something large moved in the trees next to the house. And Mariah took a few tentative steps toward the edge of the tree line.

"Felix… is that you?" Mariah whispered into the night.

A low chuckle returned to her on the breeze. "Yes."

"And myself, also." Demetri said as he stepped out of the trees into plain sight. "Aro and Caius sent us to fetch you back to them."

"Yeah, well, I'm a little preoccupied right now. So you can tell their royal highnesses that I shall not be joining them this evening." Mariah said with biting sarcasm. "I have a life this time round, and I enjoy living it very much, accidents and near death experiences and all."

"Surely you don't mean to say that." A voice said from deep within the trees.

"Ugh." Mariah groaned as she saw two figures emerge from the trees. "Aro… Caius… guys, won't give me a break already?"

"We lost you once; we don't plan on losing you again." Aro said, suddenly beside Mariah with his arms around her waist.

"What the hell. Look I know you're gonna try to be overprotective now, but I'm giving advance warning, I will not be complying with any of it. You got that?" Mariah fumed as she turned to look Aro in the eye.

"Actually, you will comply with what we ask you to do," Aro whispered menacingly into her ear. "Or else people will not be very safe."

Mariah read the meaning in his expression and her eyes widened. "You wouldn't…" Her voice trailed away.

"Oh, wouldn't I?" Aro looked back at Felix and Demetri before gesturing toward the house. The two members of the Volturi guard began stalking towards the house as Aro looked back at Mariah.

"No… you wouldn't…" Mariah struggled in Aro's iron grip, desperately trying to break away from him and get to the house. "You wouldn't! Because you'd never do anything to make me unhappy! Never!"

Just then, little Mandy came running out of the house and Stephadro followed her in his low, predatory crouch.

"NO! Leave her be! She's only a child! Let me GO!" Mariah kicked and hit as much as she could in the position she was held in. "Please! Leave her! Please…" Mariah began to sob.

Aro pulled he back, so that her ear was next to his mouth. "Hush love, be still." He whispered.

"No, let me go!" Mariah sobbed as she frantically tried to free herself from his stone arms. "Bambina, sweetie, come to Riah."

The little girl ran into Mariah's waiting, and protecting, arms. Mariah held her close, too close she realised, Aro could touch Mandy and that was risking too much. Mariah pushed herself away with as much force as she could muster at that moment and shoved herself and Mandy away from Aro, only to land with Mandy on top of her on the ground with a heavy thud.

Mariah stood up and gathered Mandy into her arms. "What happened to you? You used to make me fall in love with you every time I saw you, but now you only threaten and terrify me." Mariah's voice shook and Mandy began to cry in her arms as she sensed the tension around them, before Mariah added in an angry voice. "Kindly leave here. Go back to the Cullen's or, better yet, go back to Italy where you belong!"

"You belong there too Mariah… with us." Caius said quietly, his face showed how much Mariah's words had hurt him.

"No, I really don't think I do." Mariah said before turning and striding back towards the house.

Pat came out and took Mandy from Mariah and went back inside without even noticing the others. Mariah hesitated at the bottom of the stairs. Not long, but it was long enough for Aro to catch her arm and spin her to face him while his other arm wrapped her waist, securing her to him. His touch sent shivers down her spine and his eyes made her shake, whether this was from fear or desire Mariah couldn't tell.

"This was never the way I planned, it was not our intension to frighten or enrage you. We simply don't ever want to lose you again… don't ever want to go through the centuries of pain, grief and suffering we endured after your death. We thought we'd never see you again." Aro's eyes implored her to understand.

With him being that close it was hard not to resist the effect he had over her. That and the emotional outburst she had just had seconds ago, had just strengthened her bond with both Aro and Caius ten fold. She had the overpowering urge to simply give in to him. To give herself to him, body, heart, mind and soul, right then and there. It was all she could do not to give in to the desire she felt for him.

"Please, Cara mia, come with us tonight." Caius was actually pleading with her.

"Where would we be going?" Mariah asked, still a little dazed by just how close she was to Aro.

"We have acquired a small place just outside the town's limits." Caius smiled at her.

"I really shouldn't…" Mariah's voice faded before she finished her sentence as Aro pressed her closer to his body, letting her feel the evidence of his desire for her. She forgot that Demetri, Felix and Stephadro were watching the lovers intently, waiting for her to give in and admit that she did indeed still feel the same about Aro and Caius as she had before.

Mariah heard this in their minds and looked back at them, slightly nervous, but the sudden smile that had broken across Caius' face gave her courage and she looked back at Aro. "Hold that thought."

Aro loosened his hold on Mariah and let her go. She walked over to Caius and then turned to the guard. "I never said that I didn't still love them Felix, I admitted it to myself at least… and even though I may only be seventeen, I still know what it's like to hurt because your love is not near enough to you." She looked at Aro and added. "I will come tonight, but I do so because _I want to_ not just because _you _want me to"

Caius picked her up and swung her round in the air twice before setting her back on her feet and kissing her passionately, giving her entire body the sensation of melting. "Thank you, Cara mia, thank you, love." Caius whispered against her lips before he pulled back from the kiss.

"However," Mariah continued, regaining her senses. "The proviso is no doing anything that will scare me, etcetera, etcetera… got it?"

"Certainly, love, but just remember… we can be quite persuasive when we want to be, if we want something enough," Caius said as he swept her off her feet and carried her over to where Aro was.

Aro turned to his guard. "Thank you gentlemen, I do believe that is all for tonight." And he dismissed them with a wave of his hand. Caius turned to go but she remembered her friends inside.

"Wait!" she said in a hushed tone. "I need to give them a reason why I'll be gone."

"Be quick love." Caius smiled as he put her down and watched her run into the house and then come running back out two minutes later.

"What did you tell them?" Aro inquired.

"I told them I had a date," Mariah blushed slightly. "Is that viable?"

"Incredibly," Caius said before picking her up again. "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be." Mariah wrapped her arms around his neck as he began to run through the green woods of Forks.

Even at night the trees were still visibly green from the squashy green moss that covered the trunks. Mariah observed this as they flew through the woods. It was not long until they got to the place Caius had mentioned earlier. As she had suspected, it was not small be any standards, it was in fact the old mansion that had recently been redone. The scene before her was picturesque. It looked like it was straight out of an Austen film.

Caius carried her up the garden path, over the threshold and upstairs. Aro was already there sitting on the edge of an enormous bed that could probably sleep six people comfortably. Caius sat her on the bed next to Aro and excused himself for a moment, leaving the two alone together.

"You look tired my love." Aro stated, tracing the light shadows forming under her eyes.

"I feel it too." Mariah smiled at him.

"You are allowed to lie down you know." Aro said, lying back into the soft pillows himself, smiling as he did so.

Mariah knew the meaning behind this simple movement. Knew exactly what he wanted. And she suddenly hurt in places she didn't know she had before, because she knew she couldn't give it to him. She was scared. She wanted so desperately to be reassured but didn't know how to say what she felt.

"Aro… Aro I…" Mariah's voice seemed to be failing her.

"What's wrong love?" Aro sat up and looked into her eyes, searching.

"I…," she felt as though she was about to cry, her voice was barely more than a whisper. "I don't know how to do this. I… I can't…" she broke down into tears.

Aro pulled her into his arms gently and lay back with her in his cool embrace, comforting her. She was the same, frightened girl she had been before. No matter how hard she tried to put on a brave face every day, this still frightened her beyond words, and he knew it.

"Hush now, sweetheart, don't cry now. I'm sorry if my actions frightened you. I would never hurt you or force you to do anything." Aro kissed the top of her head lightly. "Just know you are safe and loved."

"I just don't know how to handle this," she was trying to make sense of things. "I still love you, and want you, the same way I did before…but this is all new to me in this life. I've never felt so conflicted before, and it scares me."

"Shhhh. Sleep now love." Aro said as Caius came and lay down on Mariah's other side.

"We'll still be here when you wake up." Caius' voice was soft, gentle and reassuring. It was the last thing she remembered before drifting off into the black abyss of sleep.


	9. Uncertainty

Mariah woke the next morning to the sound of blue-jays and mockingbirds outside the bedroom window. The first thing she was aware of was that the arms holding her were not cold, but warm. Mariah thought there was someone else in the bed with her. She panicked, and jumped out of the bed quicker than they could catch her. She landed at the end of the bed and looked back but only saw Aro and Caius who both had a worried and shocked look etched on their faces.

"Mariah, sweet, what's wrong?" Aro suddenly appeared in front of her.

"I… I…you…what? I'm confused…" Mariah, still half asleep, stumbled over her words.

"Mariah?" Caius edged toward her slowly.

Mariah put her hand on Aro's arm. "You're warm."

"Yes, we both are." Aro replied realising why she had jolted out of bed.

"Of course. You stayed with me… just like you said. I'm sorry." Mariah felt rather embarrassed.

"You don't need to apologise. Come back to bed, Mariah, you'll freeze." Caius said quietly.

Mariah didn't have time to reply. Aro swept her off her feet and carried her, bridal style, and placed her in the bed again, pulling the covers up over her to keep her warm. They then joined her. Mariah snuggled up to Aro and found that he was still warm. He wrapped his arms around her again.

"Help me not be afraid, Aro…" Mariah whispered. "Like you did before…"

"Only when you're ready, love." Aro replied.

"When will I know?" she asked.

"You'll know, sweetheart. You'll know." Aro tightened his grip on her ever so slightly and kissed her forehead gently.

"I need to go talk to Carlisle…" Caius said, as he got up. He smiled at Mariah before vanishing, creating a slight breeze as he sped away.

"What if I wanted it now?" Mariah asked. "What if I wanted you now? Would you give me what I wanted, Aro? Would you?"

"If it was what you truly desired, then, yes." Aro kissed her forehead tenderly.

Mariah wasn't sure whether it was a good idea, but she did it anyway. She let down the mental shield she'd put up against him. She thought of all the wonderful times she'd spent with them before. Running through the woods at sunset, the lovemaking in the early hours of the morning. 'Not one heartbeat do I forget.' She thought and watched as he closed his eyes and proceeded to work his way through her memories.


	10. Questions

Mariah walked down the staircase quietly and out the front door of the Volturi's current place of residence in Forks. She knew that by letting Aro into her mind she had willingly made herself vulnerable to him. He could use any number of things from her past to hurt or blackmail her now. He was most definitely capable of it…but, would he? Mariah didn't really feel like finding out and the more she thought about it, the more she wanted to leave. She had put up the mental shield again after she'd been left alone and was now proceeding to find her way out of the labyrinth of rooms and corridors in the mansion they had 'acquired' for their stay here.

She tip-toed around the second floor, until she found the next staircase, and then proceeded downstairs. She could hear whispers coming from the first floor and so halted her movements until they moved away from the stairs. When she finally reached the bottom, she glanced about herself cautiously, and walked swiftly to the door. She'd just made it outside and her mobile decided to go off in her jeans pocket.

Sighing heavily, she reached down, extracted her phone and put it to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Oh, thank God! Mariah, you need to get over here right now. You here me, girl? Right now!" Alice's voice tinkled through the phone.

"Wha-" Mariah pulled up short as she felt as soft breeze behind her. She shuddered slightly and turned around. There was no one there. Well, no one she could see. But there was definitely someone around. Mariah breathed in and could smell vague hints of honey blossom and roses…and a heady scent that reminded her of red wine. Caius was the honey blossom and Aro was the roses and wine. Great, they'd both caught her. Mariah turned back away from the mansion and jumped. They were standing there. Just watching her, with intent, red eyes.

"Mariah?" Alice asked.

"I'll call you back." Mariah replied and hung up swiftly, avoiding their eyes.

"Mariah, why are you outside?" Caius asked her, cocking his head to one side slightly.

"I didn't realise I was confined to the indoors." Mariah replied calmly, looking at them squarely. "I needed some air…plus, it's too nice a day to spend inside." Mariah explained, gesturing to the clear sky and in particular the sun.

"That's true." Aro mused, glittering in the sunlight. "Perhaps we could do something together… do you still like picnic's?"

"Uh, yes…but I haven't been on one for a while…not since I was a kid." Mariah looked at Aro, he seemed quite happy. "But…"

"But, what?" Caius said, suddenly behind her with his arms around her waist.

"I can't…not today." Mariah replied. "I have things that I need to do… and no, Aro, they can't wait."

"Please?" Caius whispered against her neck, making her shudder slightly. "Please love?"

"I know it's not a word you're used to hearing," Mariah disentangled herself from Caius' arms and faced them both defiantly. "But the answer is, no, not today. I'll happily take a rein check on that though."

"We shall hold you to that, Cara mia." Aro moved towards her and gently pushed a loose strand of hair from her green eyes. "Hurry back to us, mia dolce angelo."

"Could I ever stay away for long?"


	11. Chase And Capture

"Okay, Alice, you had better have a bloody good reason why-" Mariah began as she walked through the front door of the Cullen's home, only to have to pull herself up short when she saw the Volturi were also there…but why? "O…kay…what's going on guys?"

"Ah, so nice of you to join us, my dear." Aro's face was eerily calm as he took a step away from Carlisle. "Perhaps you might go over a few details with us…details concerning your knowledge of our kind."

Mariah's eyes flitted from Aro to Carlisle who mouthed 'I'm so sorry.' before it sank in. She was in deep shit now. Aro took a step towards her and she took a step backwards.

"So…just to clarify," Mariah said cautiously, taking a step backwards each time she paused. "You, want me to… 'discuss' facts with you…as in let you into my head?"

"That would be correct, ma Cherie." Aro replied matching each step she took back with a step forwards.

"Right." Mariah was now standing in the doorway through which she had entered. "Yeah…that just…isn't gonna happen."

"Mariah." Aro's tone was a warning.

"Yeah…bye!" Mariah replied as she bolted out the door and down the steps of the Cullen's home, sprinting towards the tree line. If she could make it to there, she'd be able to lose them…maybe…maybe not. But it was worth a try. Mariah, for the first time in her life, thanked her lucky stars that she'd had that accident when she was five. That she had vampire DNA running through her veins…and that she had the physiological attributes of one.

Her legs took her faster and further away from those trying to catch her, her ears listening to the sound of their footfalls as they chased her.

She made the tree line, but kept going, deviating from her original plan slightly. She glanced over her shoulder to see Alec and Felix in hot pursuit of her…closely followed by Aro and Caius. Mariah turned back just in time to narrowly avoid colliding with a moss covered tree.

A soft chuckle emanated from Caius, to which Mariah growled and ran faster. Then, oomph! She slammed into something rock hard and nowhere near tree-like.

Stone arms wrapped around her, uncomfortably tight, as Felix's voice chuckled quietly in her ear, "Gotcha."

"Let go!" Mariah yelled, panicked. "Please! Let go!"

"I cannot." Felix held her firmly.

"Felix -"

"Thankyou Felix," Aro's voice sounded from close behind her. "If you will just leave her with us and then return to the house, that would be…delightful."

"Of course, Master." Felix replied and looked down at Mariah, the significant look he gave her a plea that she not make trouble. He let her go, and vanished, headed back towards the house.

Mariah stood very still. Her back still faced towards Aro and Caius. She refused to turn round, refused to give in quite that easily. Aro began to move around her as she calmed her breathing.

"You claim to have nothing to hide… and yet, you run from us." Aro moved to stand in front of her. Mariah refused to meet his gaze, fearing the anger she might inevitably find there. Aro remained silent for a moment before speaking again, his voice a firm command. "Look at me. Mariah, look at me."

"Give me one good reason why I should." Mariah asked plainly.

Aro sighed. "Because, I would rather not force you."

"Our patience may have been legendary once, Mariah," Caius' voice whispered, in an almost growl, from close behind her. "But I do believe you'll find that that patience has faded somewhat after your murder."

"I'm not murdered. Look, I'm standing right here. Alive and breathing." Mariah continued to stare at the ground, away from them.

"For now…" Caius paused and wrapped his arm around her shoulders; her back pressed against his chest firmly, whilst his other hand slipped up underneath her shirt and traced the outlines of the scars that patterned her stomach. "You're still a magnet for trouble."

"I am not!" Mariah's head shot up as she replied, her eyes fixing their glare on Aro's mocking gaze.

"Oh, but you are." Aro cocked his head to the side ever so slightly; his eyes flickered from hers to her stomach and back again. "You've been attacked more than once, Mariah." Mariah looked at the ground again. "Did you think we wouldn't notice the scars? Especially since you slept with me tracing patterns over your skin…still as soft as I remember…"

Aro's words made Mariah uncomfortable. If they knew about the scars on her stomach from the knife attack and the shooting, would they have checked elsewhere on her person? 'Oh, God.'

"So I've been stabbed…and shot, so what?" Mariah fumed, glancing up at Aro through her lashes to see if he'd noticed the way her voice broke on the last word. His eyes were narrowed at her in suspicion.

"I thought you would be a little more forthcoming," Aro sighed. "You seem to think I wouldn't have looked to see if you had any others."

"You didn't." Mariah stated bluntly, looking Aro dead in the eye.

"And, how do you know that, love?" Caius whispered into her ear, his grip on her tightening slightly. "You weren't awake."

Mariah swallowed nervously as Caius, very gently, brushed his lips along the side of her neck, closing her eyes and failing to suppress a shudder of pleasure as he placed a kiss just below her ear. Her train of thought lost, Mariah forgot her reply. "…I…I…"

Caius chuckled and continued his actions, "Easily distracted, isn't she Aro?"

Aro's quiet laugh brought Mariah out of her daze. Clear headed again, she snapped at Caius. "Stop that!"

"Why?" Caius asked, the smirk in his voice only irritated Mariah further.

"Get off me!" She growled as she tried fruitlessly to escape his hold on her.

"But, you like this." Caius replied, his voice low and seductive as he nipped at the sensitive place just behind Mariah's ear.

"No I don't." Mariah answered quickly…a little too quickly. It was a lie, she knew it, and, unfortunately, so did they.

"Ah, you never were any good at lying, Mariah." Aro whispered, his voice barely audible. He closed the space between Mariah and himself in one small step, placed a crooked finger under her chin and tilted her head up slightly to look in her eyes. "Your body betrays your words, my love. You can say you don't want us, that you hate us…but you cannot stop the way in which your body responds to our presence, even less so our touch… We can smell what we do to you, love."

Mariah's cheeks flushed a delicate pink in response to his words and jerked her head away from his gentle touch. He was right, and she hated that. Aro chuckled darkly at her reaction as she glared daggers at the forest floor. "Your point?" Mariah replied, her tone uncharacteristically harsh.

"My point, ma Cherie, is that, whether you want to or not, you will tell us what we wish." Aro replied, as he shot a meaningful look at Caius. "You won't be able to help it…you'll want to…"


	12. Anguish

"_You won't be able to help it…you'll want to…"_

Mariah remembered Aro's words and shifted nervously on the Cullen's lounge as she waited for them to begin their questioning. She looked from Aro, sitting on a lounge opposite her to the door and back again. She wouldn't run this time, but she didn't have to answer their questions. As long as she remained her usual, stubborn self, it might irritate them enough to either leave her alone…or enrage them.

"Mariah, will you please calm yourself?" Marcus said gently, always the comforting father figure. "They're not going to hurt you."

Mariah thought to herself for a moment, and then levelled her gaze with that of Aro's, "I'm deciding not to talk. I don't particularly feel like letting you wander around inside my head. My thoughts are private, and…if you so much as touch my hair Caius, I will kill you!"

Aro looked at her for a moment, a harsh glint in his blood red eyes, "I believe you will talk, Mariah, as much as you don't want to, you will."

"And what makes you so sure of this?" Mariah asked smugly, folding her arms across her chest, holding his gaze steadily.

"Stephadro… come here a moment." Aro called. "I really had hoped it wouldn't come to this, love, but you really left no other option."

"What do you mean?" Mariah was confused for a moment with the expression Aro gave her.

"Your little friends went out for the day and needed a babysitter…" Aro explained and gestured behind Mariah. She turned to see Stephadro standing in the doorway with, Pat and Suzie's little daughter, Mandy, asleep in his arms. Mariah gasped and stood in shock as Aro continued. "So, naturally, Stephadro took the responsibility." Aro gauged her reaction before speaking again. "I know you will tell us what we wish to know, Cara mia. If not, I would hate to think what might happen to that sweet child."

Mariah turned to face Aro, her green eyes darkened with anger, "You bastard!" she fumed, taking a step towards him, her hands balled up into fists, "This is low even for you!"

"Hush now, love," Caius cooed, standing next to her. "Do you want to wake the little one?"

Mariah looked back at Mandy sleeping soundly in the arms of Stephadro then back at Aro. "If you harm her…" she let her tone colour the threat underlying her unfinished sentence.

"As long as you promise to answer us when we ask you something, she will remain unharmed." Aro assured her.

"May I make one request?" Mariah asked quietly.

"That depends on whether it is within reason…" Aro replied, cocking his head to one side. "I'm listening, what is it you ask of us?"

"No biting." Mariah stated bluntly, her face void of emotion.

"Within what parameters, my dear?" Aro asked, looking from her to Caius.

"You must promise that you won't bite anyone, to change or to feed, within the Forks district." Mariah saw Caius shaking his head before she had finished her sentence. "I'll tell you anything you want to know! Anything! But you mustn't harm Mandy or bite anyone in Forks."

Aro and Caius looked at each other for a moment, Caius flitting to Aro's side and touching his hand briefly. Aro looked away from Caius to Mariah and regarded her for a moment before replying, "It shall be as you have said."

Mariah breathed a sigh of relief. Now she just had to answer their questions...

She sat silently, waiting for Aro and Caius to return and begin their questioning. She knew where they were and what they were doing, and knew that they wouldn't find what they were looking for. Aro was reading Carlisle's mind again, trying to find a weakness to her mental shield. As far as she knew, there was none... but, she had been wrong before.

Mariah wrung her hands together nervously as she sat, watched by Marcus and Felix. She heard the stop whisper of vampiric footsteps drawing closer and kept her eyes on the doorway until Aro entered, closely followed by Caius.

Aro's expression was blank, but Caius seemed irritated, and highly so.

"Okay, you got me. Are we gonna interrogate me or not?" Mariah glared at them, then jumped as Caius appeared before her.

Aro sat next to Mariah, leaving her no escape route. He spoke quietly, "Why didn't you tell us?"

Mariah looked down at her hands. "Because, anyone who knows the secret has to either die or be changed. Now, I highly doubt you'd kill me...but if one of your guards saw me as a threat to your kind, they might be inclined to dispose of me. Failing that unpleasant event, I have no interest in becoming one of you right now. I'm happy with what I've got and I don't ask for more...and," she glared at Caius, hearing his thoughts. "I won't bend to anyone's commands that I should do something purely because that person thinks so."

"Surely with a little persuasion-"

"No, no, and no, Caius." Mariah's voice was cold and unfeeling, and she felt their mood change from persuasive to threatening again in an instant.

Aro took her upper arms in his hands and turned her so she was facing him, skin touching skin. He began to frown in irritation. "Damn it, Mariah!" he shook her slightly. "Let me in!"

"You want inside my head, Aro?" she spat viciously, letting her shield down completely. "Fine! Go ahead!" she watched maliciously as each and every one of her pain filled memories flitted through Aro's mind, and as every thought she'd ever had joined the images that filled his head, burning their way through his mind as they went. "I have _three_ lifetimes of pain filled memories and thoughts, Aro! Take them _all_! I don't _want_ them anymore! I want _none_ of them!"

Aro's hands snapped away from Mariah's arms as if she were on fire. A pained whisper forced its way out. "Mariah..."

"You wanted to know why I wouldn't let anyone inside my head. Well now you do. I hope you're happy." Mariah stood and ran, crying, from the room.


	13. I Give In

Mariah couldn't remember having ever cried this hard, especially not for this long. Why did it have to hurt so much? Why?! She hurt when she was with them and it only got worse when she was away from them. She knew she feared them, but she loved them more. It was her own fault she was hurting this badly. If only she'd not deny, no deprive, herself of this love. But her stubbornness got in the way. She wasn't going to let herself be forced into anything for anyone.

'_Especially not for those two._' She thought and her body convulsed with the new, extra pain that coursed through her system like wildfire, creating new tears.

There were a series of loud bangs on the door to her hotel room where she'd been hiding the past several days. She'd known they'd have found her sooner or later, but she had thought that it'd have taken at least another two days before they did.

"Mariah!" The loud, booming, panicked voice that could only belong to Felix sounded on the other side of the door. "We know you're in there!"

She was weak and could barely move from how much she hurt, and as another tear trickled down her pale cheek she managed to whisper, "Help me…"

The door nearly flew off its hinges as soon as the words left her lips, Aro and Caius' fear-racked forms hovering over their beloved in the same instant. For a moment they didn't know what to do as they hovered above Mariah, her body racked with sobs as she reached towards Aro and held onto the lapel of his fine Italian coat.

When he spoke, his words were gentle but filled with anguish. "Mariah…"

"Please," she began to beg as she tugged at his coat lapel with what little strength she still possessed. "Please, m-make it stop!" she continued, her tears flowing freely again. "I'll s-say anything! I'll d-do anything you w-want! Just, please, make it sto-o-op!" she continued to sob as Aro gently pulled her into his arms and Caius waved the others away. "Pl-please, A-aro… make it stop hurting…m-m-make it g-go away…please! I'm begging you, please, make it sto-o-op!"

"Shhhhh," Aro whispered, looking with fear and anguish at Caius as he began to rock her back and forth in an attempt to comfort her. "Hush my love, we're here now."

As her tears continued to fall, Caius closed the door and then returned to her side. "Who knew your tears would be the worst possible torture…"

"P-please…make it stop!" she sobbed, her tear streaked face half buried against Aro's shoulder. As he cradled her in his arms her voice changed to a barely audible whisper. "I love you! Please…make it stop…"

Aro sighed. He knew what it was she needed. Both parties had acknowledged their love for the other…but she would remain in pain until their love was consummated. And only the one she would first cling to in a crisis would be able to stem the agony that flowed through her veins as freely as her blood did.

Aro looked up at Caius as the other elder touched his hand. Caius had come to the same conclusion…but he know it was not himself, but rather Aro whose touch would quell her anguish and allow their love to blossom as it had four hundred years before.

'_I'll take the others out of hearing range,' _Aro heard in Caius' mind. _'She deserves that much courtesy from them…and maintain her dignity.'_

Aro nodded as Caius vanished from the room and once more turned his attention to his love who he still cradled gently in his arms. Very slowly, so as to neither hurt nor alarm her, Aro shifted their position on the bed slightly and, ever so tenderly, cupped her cheek and tilted her head up. Her eyes had closed at his loving touch and she had leaned into him a little more.

"Mariah, open your eyes for me love." He whispered sweetly, brushing away her remaining tears with his thumb. "Darling, look at me."

Her eyes met his shyly, and she made her confession. "I don't want to fight anymore, Aro. I want to be with you…and Caius…always."

Aro's eyes widened slightly, knowing full well what she was giving him, but he still needed her to say it out loud. "Tell me what you want, love…"

Her whispered reply sounded akin to a plea, "You…" And that was all he needed to hear.

Aro's lips claimed hers in a passionate kiss that left her breathless. He moved them both so that they were lying on the bed, one hand sweeping down the back of her thigh, from her waist to her knee, to pull her leg up over his hip as his other hand entangled itself in her soft, brown curls.

**Sorry to cut out then, but I want your opinions as to how much you wish to see Aro and Mariah, and Caius and Mariah, do together **_**'romantically'. **_**So, please post opinions as to **_**'lemmons' **_**or **_**'no lemmons'.**_

**I await your replies with baited breath.**

**Yours faithfully,**

**Jazza**


	14. Finally Claimed

_Aro's lips claimed hers in a passionate kiss that left her breathless. He moved them both so that they were lying on the bed, one hand sweeping down the back of her thigh, from her waist to her knee, to pull her leg up over his hip as his other hand entangled itself in her soft, brown curls._

"Mariah…" he murmured softly as his teeth gently grazed the sensitive flesh of her earlobe. Mariah shivered, her eyes fluttering shut. Aro's hands trailed down her body, as her own hands found their way to his raven hair and strong shoulders.

His curtain of raven hair hung over their faces as he kissed her, ravenous and ungentle, his tongue entwining with hers, dominant and unrelenting. She pulled him closer, feeling the evidence of his desire against her lower abdomen, even as his hands slid down her waist to her hips, pulling them up against him.

Mariah moaned wantonly, sliding her hands into his long hair, relishing the feel of the silken strands against her skin. It felt like her skin was extra-sensitised, because every brush of Aro's hard, cold body against hers sent the most delicious tremors rushing through her.

Suddenly he entered her, with one finger, and she wanted to cry out. Mariah's eyes rolled back into her head as she arched away from him, breaking their heated kiss. His lips slid over her chin and down her neck, lingering over the pulse of her heartbeat. Slowly he withdrew that one finger, and returned it, thrusting slowly into her aching body, just as he would claim Mariah eventually.

Instinctively Mariah writhed under his ministrations, almost begging him to quit teasing her now aching body. Mariah moaned as he lathered kisses over her heaving breasts, pressing her into the bed.

"Aro, please…" She breathed, eyes pleading. Abruptly he withdrew those clever hands from her body, and pinned her to the bed by her wrists, his pelvis lying heavy on her own.

Again those delicious tremors swept through her body, her muscles screaming with desire and need. She felt as though if he didn't make love to her soon she would spontaneously combust.

"Mariah…" Aro whispered, his face appearing above her own, his glorious hair hanging down around her blushing face. His sweet breath washed over her dry aching lips as she tried to stretch upward to reach kiss him once more. He refused me that, just smiling down at me tenderly. "Tell me what you want of me, Cara Mia."

Mariah flushed deep scarlet. "Please don't make me say it, Aro. You know what I want," she managed to choke out, her voice hoarse and low as she suppressed sobs of pure need. He lowered his head and teased her lips with his, brushing them but never quite kissing her. "Aro, please…"

Aro chuckled, and the sound of his rich voice made Mariah shiver. Aro's eyes seemed to glow a darker shade of crimson, as he rocked against her gently, not quite penetrating it. I moaned openly this time, and arched, needing to be closer to him.

"Tell me what you want, Mariah. I need to hear you say it," he murmured against my lips, as I opened my eyes once more. "You know the words, my love…please…say the words I need to hear."

And suddenly, she remembered. The two words mated couples spoke to one another. He leant down and pressed a kiss to that wonderfully sensitive place just behind her ear and then lightly dragged his teeth down her neck, and Mariah moaned, "Complete me…" She finally breathed, blushing again.

Aro's lips found hers instantly, and she reciprocated whole-heatedly. A moment later, he left my lips to whisper, and this time his voice was as hoarse as my own. "Your wish is my command," he murmured.

Mariah raised her hips to meet his as Aro kissed her deeply, before then planting kisses all the way down her throat to her aching breasts. She arched as he took one peak into his mouth and, slowly, entered her, stopping just short of her final barrier.

Her virginity.

Mariah felt the power building in the muscular legs lying between her own, his hands tightening against her hips, pulling them up before he thrust into her, hard and deep, a strangled cry of both pain and pleasure escaping her lips, as her aching body arched up to meet his thrust for thrust.

His mouth claimed hers with a brutal passion, his tongue moving in time with his movements as he began to move within her, Mariah's body beginning to falter under his rhythm, unable to keep up, as she finally let him take her.

She hooked her legs around his waist, pulling him closer as she kissed him back, burying her hands in his glorious midnight black hair. Aro thrust into Mariah harder, pushing her mind into overload, upping the tempo of his thrusts as he felt her begin to tighten around him

"Oh, God... Aro…" Mariah moaned in ecstasy and then gasped as she felt his fingers begin to tease her clit again. "Please…" she whispered frantically as she pulled him down to her lips once more. "Please…d…don't stop…please…"

She needed to come, badly, but could barely say the words required. Still, he continued to thrust, hitting that perfect spot inside her, and she couldn't breathe, couldn't think, couldn't feel anything but the wonderful, terrible pleasure he was giving her.

"Oh, God! Please!" Mariah gasped, rolling her hips up in time with his fierce thrusting. "Aro…please…I…need to-" He silenced Mariah with a fierce kiss, angling himself a little, and she broke, screaming out his name and arching away from him in wanton abandon. And when she eventually came back to herself, she found herself safely tucked amongst the bed sheets as Aro held her, stroking her hair and murmuring words of affection as she finally drifted off into a contented slumber.

She awoke to darkness, and the soft touch of a lover…gently tracing feather light patterns over her porcelain skin. She snuggled closer to the touch and inhaled. The scent of blooming roses was gone, in its place was the aroma of lavender and honeysuckle… it was Caius who lay abed with her in the dark of the night, not Aro.

"Caius?" Mariah mumbled through the haze of sleep. "Wh-"

"Shh," He silenced her with a tender kiss and it felt as if her entire body sang with delight, coming alive instantly as his fingers trailed over her bare skin in the most intoxicating ways.

"Mmm…Caius…" she moaned as his lips left hers to travel down her throat to her collar bone and then continued down to her breast. He took one taut nipple into his mouth and sucked gently for a moment before releasing it and blowing cool air against where his mouth had just been. Mariah gasped and then arched up as he leant down to flick his tongue over her nipple once again.

He pulled the sheet away from her naked body, slowly, revealing the last facets of her physical self. He trailed open mouthed kisses from her breasts to her navel, all the while trailing teasing fingers against the insides of her thighs and inching his touch agonisingly slowly higher until she was trembling beneath him.

A whispered plea escaped Mariah's lips as he continued to tease her with gentle caresses and he chuckled darkly. The sound of his laugh skimmed over her body and made her throb for him in places she hadn't known ever existed.

"Cara mia…" he murmured against the over sensitised flesh of her abdomen. "Do you wish for me to desist?"

His hand slipped down between her thighs to tease where she needed him most. Mariah moaned and, involuntarily, bucked herself up against his teasing hand, needing more, and causing him to chuckle darkly once again.

"Are you sure you don't want me to stop?" he purred, placing hot, wet kisses up the inside of her thigh, almost to where she needed him most, only to move away again.

"Y-yes…" Mariah managed to reply, moaning and whimpering pitifully as Caius massaged the tender flesh that now throbbed between her thighs.

Caius pulled her hips further towards him and pinned her in position , and finally… _finally_ touched Mariah where she needed him to touch her. His long fingers slipping right up into her, moving deep inside, stroking a place so sensitive that she couldn't help but to cry out. Then again. And again. His fingers hitting a sweet spot within her as he lowered his mouth to her clit and began his slow, pleasurably torture upon his beloved.

Mariah cried out again and again as Caius flicked his talented tongue over her most intimate area, wanting to buck her hips but Caius held her still. His fingers began to move faster, pressing harder and harder against that sweet spot inside her, and his tongue flicked over her quicker making her moan and curse and beg him for release.

Just when Mariah believed she was about to come, he removed his touch from her completely and she mewled pitifully. Caius appeared above her then and pulled her up to him, kissing her… hard.

She needed his touch, needed…

"Say it to me," Caius whispered against her lips. "Say the words…"

Mariah looked up into his eyes as she spoke. "Complete me…"

Their bodies sang with each other in a duet of such sweet, joyous music that it seemed impossible to believe that they were two separate beings, and not one single harmonious organism.

At just the right moment, his rigid penis gently pierced her, tearing her hymen with so little fuss that he barely seemed to have noticed it, and then sliding snugly into place inside her like it was returning home. She kissed his face with tiny, teardrop kisses as he made love to her with a quiet passion. His fingers played over her breasts, making them blush and bringing her nipples to erection, and she, in a move she had studied more times than she cared to think of, slid her fingertips over the meaty ball of his prostate, scattering spasms of ecstasy throughout his body like explosions of static electricity.

They made love slowly, like savouring a fine liqueur, and then, in the fullness of time, his back arched, and his thrusts became more emphatic, his semen spurting into her so hard that she could almost feel it.

"Oh, Mariah! Mariah! Oh, Gods, yes!" Caius cried out as he came inside of her with the force and elemental power of a oceanic wave. His lips crashed down upon hers once more as they rode out the spasms and tremors that washed over them both, in waves of pleasure that rocked through them. He leant down to her and kissed her with a passion she hadn't known existed in him. "Mariah, my love! My life..."

It was the perfect end to the most perfect day imaginable. There was only one tiny detail that spoiled slightly the total perfection of the moment, of the start of their lives together.


	15. Trouble

It was the perfect end to the most perfect night imaginable. There was only one tiny detail that spoiled slightly the total perfection of the moment, of the start of their lives together.

And that was the gun shot that echoed through the night…emanating from underneath her hotel room window

A harsh voice called out, sickly cooing to Mariah through the open window. A voice that Mariah recognised. A voice that made her scream. Her eyes shot away from Caius to the window, where a dark shadow loomed menacingly.

"No…" Mariah whispered as she clutched the sheets to her naked body in terror. "No, it can't be…"

"I see you gave it up in the end, huh Girly?" the shadow sneered, voice dripping with loathing. "And to a leech no less. You disgust me more now than you ever did. You let one of _them_ inside you… you filthy whore!"

Mariah gazed back, willing her expression remain blank. "You shouldn't have come here Raoul…"

"Neither should you." Raoul stepped into the light of the hotel room lamps and brought his gun level with her heart. "Do you trust your lover to be faster than my trigger happy fingers, hmm? Faster than a bullet?"

Mariah needed to stall, she could feel Aro's presence growing nearer. "Are you asking me if I trust him with my life?"

Raoul cocked his head to one side and smirked. "Yes, but you know that quite clearly… you really want to know how the bloody hell I got out of prison and found you, isn't that right Girly."

"Raoul…" Mariah slowly outstretched one hand in a gesture of surrender and he snarled.

"You and your band of _freaks_ won't bother this world much longer, Girly." Raoul hissed through his teeth. "Say goodbye, Gir-"

Raoul's words were cut off as something slammed into him, knocking him off balance as several dark, blurred figures whipped into the room. There was a sickening snap and Raoul screamed, but that wasn't the only sickening noise.

The whole room froze as the gun in Raoul's hand fired and a sharp, pained gasp echoed after it. All heads snapped towards Mariah whose hand rested just below her collar bone, liquid red seeping through the concealing sheets and between her fingers.

Mariah's face drained of colour and her eyes became glazed over as the pain shot through her left shoulder and the most serene thought came to her as darkness fell about her.

'_If he'd aimed two inches lower… I'd be dead right now…'_


	16. The Plot Thickens

_Mariah's face drained of colour and her eyes became glazed over as the pain shot through her left shoulder and the most serene thought came to her as darkness fell about her._

'_If he'd aimed two inches lower… I'd be dead right now…'_

Mariah felt consciousness slowly returning. But it was what the voices around her were saying that made her open her eyes.

"She's been shot." Carlisle's voice murmured quietly above her

"_He _shot her!" Caius snarled, followed by the sound of someone being hit and whimpering pitifully.

"I thought he was in prison!" she heard Jasper's concerned voice somewhere to her right.

"Well, obviously he got out." Caius snapped as she felt a cool hand against her forehead.

"She's lost a lot of blood…" Carlisle said, more to himself than anyone else. There was a long pause, after which Carlisle obviously looked up at someone. "Oh, don't worry, she's in no danger."

"So there's no _need _to turn her." Mariah could hear the smirk in Edwards voice. His comment was met by a vicious hiss. "But how did he know she was _here_?!" Edward continued.

"Perhaps you should ask _him _that!" Caius snapped.

"Perhaps…" Edward paused. "No, I think Aro wants some time with him." Again Edward paused before answering a question that was only thought but not spoken aloud. "Because, he's here."

"Aro?" Caius seemed to ask the air, but he received a reply.

"Yes, where is our young… _ambitious, _friend?" Aro's voice, filled with menace, added a chill to the room.

"Here, master." Felix replied and off to her left was a sickening snap and a muffled cry of agony.

Mariah opened her eyes and sat up slowly, wincing at the sharp pain in her shoulder as she moved and causing her to gasp. All eyes flickered to her and, as she looked down, she praised all that was Holy that someone had thought to dress her!

She watched as focus returned to Aro as he took the bound and gagged Raoul's head in his hands, eyes closed in concentration. For a moment there was naught but silence…but then Aro and Edward snarled viciously.

"Sulpicia!" Edward growled.

"I should have known…" Aro continued, quiet and still. There was a sickening crack and Raoul's head hung back over the chair at an angle that defied all capability, but no one had moved. It had an adverse effect on Mariah though.

"Curse her!" Caius snarled. "And the thing we just dealt with!"

Mariah's scream caught in her throat as she looked towards Carlisle. In shock for the second time that night, her mind shut itself down…it was the only coping mechanism she had left.


	17. An Interesting Development

Mariah rested her head on Caius' shoulder as he ran, carrying her swiftly back to the safety of the Volturi mansion; not all that far from the Cullen's residence as it turned out. Aro and Caius had gone into attack-mode, never leaving her side for fear that she was not protected enough surrounded by Volturi guards and the three elders.

Mariah traced her fingers tenderly against the dark shadows forming under the eyes of her lovers. "You need to feed."

"We need to stay here and protect you." Caius murmured, kissing down her neck and along her shoulder tenderly, eliciting delicious shivers of desire from Mariah.

Mariah leant back into Caius as Aro rested his head against her chest, listening to her heartbeat. "How do you expect to protect me, when you're not at your strongest?"

"We'll manage." Caius whispered against her skin.

"No, not on my watch." Mariah replied sternly. "You need blood, and you need it now… you haven't fed in weeks because you've been so worried about me. The others have fed, now it's your turn. I'll be perfectly safe with Felix and Demetri. Go and raid a prison or Seattle…just go feed!" Mariah shoved Aro away gently.

"Mariah…" Aro chastised quietly.

"Go," Mariah whispered as she kissed him. "I'll be right here when you return."

"Alright," Caius murmured seductively into her ear. "But on you head be it."

Mariah laughed quietly. "I'll wait hear, in bed, for your return." They breezed to the doors leading out onto the balcony, looking back with uncertainty. Mariah smiled warmly. "Go!"

They smiled back lovingly, and were gone in the same breath…

Mariah sighed as she lay alone in bed and rested her hand on her stomach… should she tell them she was pregnant? Would they see it as a blessing? Or a curse, as Edward had before he and Bella had Renesme? Perhaps she should keep quiet for the moment. Her stomach was a little swollen, but it wasn't that noticeable yet. But she'd been altering their perception slightly so they wouldn't notice. It was a new skill she had discovered.

Mariah felt her womb stretch a little and she smiled as she began to sing a lullaby and began to drift towards sleep herself.

Mariah opened bleary eyes as she felt someone sit beside her on the bed. Her eyes focused momentarily and she gasped as a hand with a strange smelling cloth covered her mouth and nose.

'_Sulpicia!' _her thoughts screamed, hoping that Edward was close enough to hear her.

"Well here's an interesting development!" Sulpicia sneered, "There's a good girl now." Sulpicia cooed mockingly down at her as she struggled against what she now recognised as chloroform. "Don't you dare scream…"

And, as her world became darkness once more, she heard Sulpicia speak again. "The young Girly is…with child."


	18. Help!

Mariah gasped and choked for air as Sulpicia's hand tightened around her throat. She had no idea where she was, but she knew that Demetri would be tracking Sulpicia and would find her soon. Sulpicia had kept moving them both around for about a month now, but Mariah knew the Volturi were closing in. If only she could last out a little longer.

Sulpicia tightened her grip a little more and continued her taunting.

"So, you thought a human would belittle me and get away with it, hmm? Thought you'd take my throne from me, hmm, little girl?" She laughed then, the way a small child would imagine a witch's cackle would sound like. "And you didn't tell them either! How did you keep it a secret? Surely they would have heard… but you can probably hide sounds and sights you don't want others to hear, can't you? Hmm, Girl? But not when you're nearly dying." She snickered at her own triumph.

Mariah's eyes rolled back into her head and she groaned as Sulpicia tilted her head over the back of the chair painfully before letting her go. Mariah's head flopped forward. _'Please,' _she thought desperately. _'Please let them find me…please don't let her hurt them… or me…if she hurts me I could lose the-'_

Mariah's thoughts were interrupted by a sharp slap across the face from Sulpicia. "Why wouldn't you tell them?" Sulpicia glared down at her. "Why wouldn't you tell them you were carrying twins? Hmm?" Sulpicia continued to glare at her as she speculated. She began to tease her as her hand once more closed around Mariah's throat and squeezed. "Do you think they're both Aro's bastards? Or, perhaps they each have a different father? Hmm? A girl for Aro, and a boy for Caius. What do you think, Girl?!" Sulpicia sneered and tightened her grip again. "Answer me!"

Sulpicia released Mariah and slapped her again. Mariah coughed and spluttered as she looked up into Sulpicia's eyes. "Why should I answer?"

Sulpicia knelt down in front of Mariah and placed her hands gently on Mariah's swollen belly, all the while smiling maliciously. "Because, if you don't cooperate," she began her eyes traveling up to meet Mariah's. "I shall rip your unborn children from you like a lion guts a carcass." Which she validated by digging her nails into the flesh of Mariah's stomach, not quite deep enough to harm the unborn twins but it still made Mariah scream.

"You're right!" Mariah screamed in agony, and Sulpicia stopped; waiting for her answer. "A boy and a girl…but I know not to whom each belongs…" Mariah gasped and sobbed as Sulpicia withdrew her nails from her stomach, and kept talking just to buy herself time. "I wish I knew… b-but I d-don't…"

"If it is a boy you give Aro…" Sulpicia paused for a moment then closed her fingers tightly around Mariah's throat again, this time with no intention of letting go. "Then I should just gut you right now-"

Sulpicia didn't have time to finish either her sentence or her dark deeds. Felix and Demetri whooshed into the room, the door flying off its hinges, and pulled her off Mariah in the blink of an eye, and restrained her.

Mariah, tied to a chair, fell to the floor, coughing and spluttering as oxygen entered her lungs once more. She wasn't there long though. One moment she was on the floor, the next she was in Caius' arms, watching as Aro's hand folded around Sulpicia's throat; a vice like grip growing ever tighter, causing cracks to appear in his ex-wife's neck.

"You will not see another sunrise…" Aro's voice was soft, yet deadly. "You will never threaten or harm her again!"

Sulpicia screamed, pleading as she struggled, but Aro would show no mercy. There was a sound like screeching and cracking rock, then Sulpicia's arms and head were torn from her body and quickly burned; Felix and Demetri ensuring every piece burned, nothing would be allowed to remain.

Aro turned to Mariah, flitting to her side as he saw her struggling in Caius' arms as he held her. When Aro reached out to comfort her, she shrank back, terror at what he had just done shone back at Aro from her bright, intelligent eyes. She screamed at them to let her go, for them not to come near her.

Aro's eyes saddened as he gazed at his beloved's fear-racked form and sighed. "…Alec…"

Alec looked from Mariah to his master and nodded. Reaching out with his deadly mist, he slowly took her senses from her so she would not harm herself further.

Caius looked down at her now still form as Aro approached them again, his voice racked with pain. "She needs a doctor…now."

Aro nodded, and they vanished.

_**Oh, do tell me what you think! ;)**_


	19. Dangerous Secrets Revealed

"You're pregnant!" Caius yelled as he stabbed his finger in Mariah's direction, glaring daggers at her. "You're pregnant, and you didn't tell us!"

"Because you'd have had the same reaction as you're having right now, Caius!" Mariah screamed back at him, her hands hovering protectively over her swollen, pregnant stomach. "And I will not be some experiment for the both of you!"

"You cannot survive this!" Aro yelled, causing Mariah to shrink back in terror. "I've seen Edward's memories of Bella, Mariah! She barely made it into her new life, and she only carried _one_ of these creatures inside her! Who knows what _two_ will do to you!"

Mariah knew the look on Aro's face well. It was dead. Predatory even, and she knew. "NO!" she screamed and took a step backwards in horror. "NO! YOU CAN'T!"

"I am sorry, my love," Aro's face was blank as he made towards her slowly, motioning to Felix and Demitri silently. "But I will not lose you again."

"I won't let you do this…" Mariah's voice was barely a whisper at first, then she straightened and spoke up. Standing her ground. "You hear me, _Aro Volturi_? I won't! Do you think I hung on all that time Sulpicia held me captive purely to stay alive? I'm having these babies."

"I am sorry, Mariah. But-"

"But nothing! You can't touch me! It's only when I'm scared that my physical shield doesn't work. It works just fine when I'm pissed off! If you two don't want to see your son and daughter, that's fine. You can both piss off as far as I'm concerned!" Mariah shouted, glaring daggers at Aro and Caius. "I'm pissed as heck and once the shield's up I can be scared and it'll stay up to protect me."

"Who will take care of you? Help you deliver them?" Aro pointed at her stomach. "Those creatures are a danger to you!"

"Do you really think I care right now?" Mariah spat. "Besides, it won't be the first time I've been left high and dry by someone I love and have had to fend for myself."

"Mariah…" Aro and Carlisle said in unison, Caius looking between all three of them in confusion.

"No." Mariah all but snarled as she turned on her heel and walked out the front door of the Volturi mansion.

"Mariah!" Several voices called out after her.

But Mariah merely shook her head and continued walking. "Fuck you all."


	20. Nearly Time

The pain was slowly returning. She'd been able to drown it out for a while with loving thoughts about her soon to be motherhood and names for her two beautiful unborn children, but now they were stretching again; and physical discomfort brought with it the pain of separation from her loves…and her family.

Bella was the only person who knew where she was. She was the only person she could trust with her whereabouts as she was the only one who could shield her thoughts from the probing minds of Edward and Aro… but she would need her and Carlisle eventually. Mariah knew she wouldn't be able to deliver her twins alone.

Mariah's gaze snapped up at the sound of both her phone and the front doorbell ringing. She answered the phone first.

"Hello?"

"Mariah? Are you okay?" Alice's voice, anxious, come though the phone.

"I'm…managing." Mariah replied cautiously. "Why?"

"They want to talk to you…well, I'd say _tan your mortal hide_ would be more of what is going through their minds." Alice's voice shook slightly. "They want you to know that they _do _want children…more importantly, they want to have children with _you_. They are worried about the danger this pregnancy will put you in though, and your leaving only made things worse."

"I know the dangers. I've been through it with Bella and Carlisle-"

Aro took the phone from Alice and cut Mariah off. "Mariah, come back. I know how we acted was wrong, but I… _we_ will not lose you again…I do not think we could survive that a second time."

Mariah's heart clenched, grief and joy warring within her. She so wanted to believe him, but Aro was exceptionally good at deceit and she would not lose her babies just because he wanted to be selfish.

With a shaky breath, she replied. "I understand, Aro, I do…but try and see it from my point of view. You tried to take from me what I want most for us…I want to give you a child, and I won't be able to after you turn me-"

"You want me to _turn you_?" Aro's voice seemed overjoyed at the prospect of her wanting her immortality being commenced sooner rather than later.

"Yes, I do…as soon as the children are delivered. Just as Edward did with Bella." Mariah reasoned with him. "Please understand…"

"I do, love…we just worry-"

"I know you do." Mariah smiled. "Would it ease you worry if I were there with you?"

"Exponentially." Aro replied, sighing softly.

"Then come and get me, my darlings." Mariah murmured lovingly through the phone as she opened the door to a smiling Bella. "Bella will text Edward the address."

The line went dead and Mariah sighed as she hung up the phone. "Hey Bells," Mariah paused as she saw Renesme close behind Bella. "And Nessie! What are you doing here sweetheart?"

"I wanted to see where I came from…" Renesme replied, her dimpled smile made anyone fall in love with her, including Mariah.

"Wait, Bells, don't text them just yet…I'd like to talk with you first." Mariah winced as one of the twins kicked.

"You're due any day now, it could be _today_. And you want to _wait_?" Bella raised an eyebrow at her, then smiled softly and helped Mariah to sit. "That steady diet of blood kept you in good knick…you look much better than I did…"

"I don't think I could have done this without you…" Mariah smiled both in appreciation and apology.

"I'd do it again in a heartbeat," Bella smiled warmly. "But, in all seriousness, having the babies will be the easy part when compared to being turned…but, you're strong, you'll be fine."

Mariah wrapped her arms tightly about herself and closed her eyes. "God, I hope so…"


	21. Pain

"Aro, how are we going to get the children out? Something tells me I can't just give birth like with normal human babies," Mariah asked, her hand moving softly over her swollen belly unconsciously as she thought of her children once again.

"Well, I haven't been idle on that front, Bella," he started, stroking her hair soothingly. "Bur, the only safe way I can see would be to remove the twins from your womb by a…Caesarean section if you will,"

"A C-section?" She asked, frowning.

"It will involve one of us using our….natural talents to remove the twins. Obviously I would be on hand to turn you the moment the children were clear," he assured Mariah, even as she suppressed a shiver at his words.

Aro or Caius would have to use their teeth to get the babies out... like Edward did with Bella.

"Are you sure this is the only way?" Mariah asked, the beginnings of fear tripping across her heart. Aro looked at her, long and hard.

"Yes, it is. I'm sure you've felt how…hard your stomach feels, almost like our skin. I don't think using conventional human methods will work, Mariah," he explained, and I had to concede that. Underneath my obviously still human skin, my uterus felt like it was made of stone. This was the only way.

"Alright. I trust you," I murmured, laying my head back down on his chest, drawing tiny circles on his suit jacket with the tips of my fingers. "How long do you think…?"

"Not long. In human pregnancies, most women are your size when they give birth, so I would guess soon. I think it would be dangerous to delay too long," he answered briskly. Suddenly his voice softened. "We won't lose you again…"

"I'm not dying, Aro," I muttered, rolling my eyes, flinching at the sound of _his_ name. I could think it, but I couldn't say it out loud. Yet something was different than last time; _I_ was different. That hole in my chest hadn't been torn open again.

"No, but immortality is an entirely new existence, with new experiences mortality cannot offer. But mortality does have its advantages," Caius replied whilst kissing my forehead. My heartbeat sped up in response. "Like that." He smirked.

We lapsed back into silence, content with the other's closeness, as I daydreamed, listening to the stillness of the house. After a moment or two, Mariah spoke up again, "What about names?"

"Had you any in mind, Cherie?" Caius pulled her closer and covered her hand with his.

"It's going to be a boy and a girl…though to whom each belongs I don't really know…" She began before quieting for a moment again. "Lillian, for the girl, I'm picking that one right now! But…Vlados or Damon for the boy?" Mariah smirked, as she wondered what they thought of her taking over of the name picking.

"I like Lillian," Aro smiled back at her, clearly amused at her authoritive tone.

"_Vlados_?" Caius groaned and let his head fall back against the bed head. "It's too close to the name of one of the Romanian scum we overthrew."

"So…Damon then?" Mariah's smirk widened into a mirthful grin.

"No…I thought…Jeremiah…" Caius whispered teasingly into her hair.

Mariah's smile turned gentle. "I quite like that."

"Excellent!" Aro clapped his hands together ecstatically. "Names are decided!"

"Yes, we…" Mariah trailed off, her facial expression changing from confused to agonised and she cried out in pain.

"Demitri!" Aro roared. "Get Carlisle… NOW!"


	22. Twins!

Mariah returned to a dim parody of consciousness, every sensation nothing but pain. The rush of cold air over her skin. The ripping and tearing inside of her. The noises slicing into her brain. The harsh light searing her eyes.

"Carlisle, please, hurry. The placenta may have detached!" a voice called.

Mariah knew what that meant. Her twins could die inside.

"Get them out. NOW!" She screamed.

A new pain was added to the old, and Mariah arched. Then came the snapping noise… and her lower body fell… inanimate. Hot liquid gushed over her body, bubbling up in her mouth, spilling over her lips. Salty, red liquid. She struggled not to choke, fighting to remain awake, not to slip down into the inviting darkness.

"Her spine's broken. She can't feel anything, just do it!" She heard someone shout franticly, and then a slicing pain reverberated through my entire body. "Felix, hold her!"

Hard, cold arms held her shoulders and chest as she felt her body go numb. Reality and death blurred together as one. And then-

"Mariah?"

That voice, it was so lovely, quiet and authoritative. It gave Mariah strength, to focus through the pain as she opened her eyes again. Mariah couldn't feel, or see properly, but she could hear, and that voice needed her to open her eyes.

"Mariah, stay with me," that voice called to me, as if from a distance, before it left me. "Carlisle hurry! Her heartbeat is weakening!"

"Hold on, Riah," another voice said. Emmitt?

She couldn't be sure anymore.

She slipped back into darkness, tiny spots of darkness blotting her already hazy vision, as she began to succumb to the lethargy filling every atom of her being.

"Mariah?" Aro's voice this time, as she willed her eyes open, her breathing shallow and harsh. Suddenly everything was clear. Carlisle stood there covered in blood…her blood…handing two small objects to Aro and Caius.

"How do you know you got the fathers right?" Felix asked, curious.

"A girl with black hair and green eyes…most definitely Aro's, and that peculiar but beautiful ice blue colour of the boys' eyes…could only belong to Caius…" Carlisle replied gravely.

Mariah raised her arms. "Please, let me…."

They were brought as close to Mariah as possible, their warmth pressing against her cold flesh. Their moist skin was scorching!

Suddenly her vision had never been so perfect… They were _beautiful_…but Mariah was dying…


	23. A New Life Starts

Caius voice was cold when he spoke up. "Alec, Jane come here quickly. Watch over the twins; protect them with your immortal lives. Demetri, Emmitt accompany them," Weak from her ordeal, Mariah couldn't stop them from taking the twins away.

"No…please…"Her voice was so soft even she could barely hear it. "Please…let me…let me hold them…" But she slumped back against the pillows in defeat. Her anchor to reality gone…then a cold hand gently caressed her cheek, cool breath brushing against her neck.

"Soon, it'll all be over, dearest Mariah." Aro whispered gently.

"Immortality awaits, Cherie…" Caius murmured tenderly.

And then a new pain, nothing to the agony before, swept through her veins, shredding her flesh from the inside out. It was too hot, I was burning, I was on fire, from my heart, to the very tips of my hands and feet. She convulsed, the fire coursing through every cell, changing her as it went. Agony… Consciousness and self-possession returned in trickles, although the pain did not abate, her heart thundering laboriously.

Hours. Days. Years. Centuries. Any and all of these could have passed and Mariah wouldn't have known anything about it; I writhing from the flames as they consumed her. The pain receded from her toes first, trickling back from her fingers. Her head began to clear.

Mariah could hear only three heartbeats. Two were as fast and light as a hummingbird's, whilst the other was slower, more laborious, indicative of blood being forced through tiny veins... her veins…

Suddenly the fire shot back to her heart, and she burned in agony fiercer than before. My heart became a supernova of pain and flame, as Mariah arched, tensing her jaw against the screams that longed to be set free.

Her world became one of waiting. Waiting for the pain to cease, waiting for the dawn to break. For her eternity to begin.

Thump- thump… thump- thump...thump- thump ….thummmmp…thummmmmmp…thummmmppp…..

And then… nothing. Her brilliant, red eyes opened and she took in her new world in amazement.


	24. Progress Update

**Hello again everyone! Sorry about the long bloody wait. The sequel to this story, entitled _'Love Abounds', _has been posted! Much thanks to NadiixD for much needed inspiration!**

**Love to you all!**

**Jazza-44**


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